COMAC C929 Widebody Airliner

As the contractor of C929 fuselage 'Zhejiang Huarui' Plans to Build a new composite fuselage design, R&D and manufacturing base of nearly 530,000 square meters in Qiantang New district, Hangzhou. The aviation technology R&D center in front of factory was recently delivered and settled. mainly serving the design and R&D service of C929 fuselage , composite wings and other parts.

Functional blocks such as storage area and the main factory building will also be delivered one after another. it is expected to put use in May 2024 with full capacity.

More eco-friendly modifications for the C929?


2023-10-24 08:28:44chinadaily.com.cn Editor : Li Yan

The C929 has entered the preliminary design stage, with its carbon emission expected to be slashed by 60 percent, Science and Technology Daily reported, quoting head designer of the C919, China's first self-developed single-aisle aircraft.
Wu Guanghui, head designer of the C919 and chief scientist at Commercial Aircraft Corp of China, better known as COMAC, disclosed fresh details about the C929 during the International Forum on Green Aviation held in Hefei, East China's Anhui province, on Sunday.
Wu shared C919's achievements in the area of green aviation, as well as the green design philosophy of C929, which is in the preliminary design stage.
Compared with old similar models, C919's carbon emission is reduced by 12-15 percent, Wu said, adding that for C929, the goal is set at 60 percent.
Data from the International Energy Agency showed last year the aviation sector accounted for 2 percent of global carbon emissions. And the figure is expected to reach 25 percent by 2050, according to a United Nations report.
At present, Europe and the United States have released their green aviation plans. Earlier this month, China also issued a guideline, formulating the country's development plan for a green aviation manufacturing system between 2023 and 2035.
According to Wu, reducing the weight of airplanes is an important way to reducing fuel consumption and carbon emission. "The weight of ARJ21-700 has been reduced by over 600 kg. The lightest seat weights only 7 kg now, compared with the global average of 12-14 kg."
Based on a green design concept, a slew of measures are adopted to reduce fuel, noise and carbon emission of C929, Wu added.
Promoting sustainable aviation fuels (SAF), which is made from feedstock ranging from used fat, oil and grease to municipal and forestry waste, is the most effective method to reduce carbon emissions for the aviation sector, the newspaper said.
Regarding the exploration scope of SAF, Wu said, besides biofuel, other renewable fuels such as methanol and ammonia-hydrogen, should be paid more attention, exploring more possibilities for carbon emission reduction of the aviation sector.

Seems like it's official (or at least, broadly acknowledged/recognized) now - COMAC has for the first time displayed its long-range wide-bodied airliner under the C929 designation. Photographed at the 2023 Nanchang Airshow. Posted by @FATIII Aviation on Twitter (also known as @FATIII on Weibo).

Time to change the name of this thread to "COMAC C929 Widebody Airliner"?

ACuriousPLAFan said:

Seems like it's official (or at least, broadly acknowledged/recognized) now - COMAC has for the first time displayed its long-range wide-bodied airliner under the C929 designation. Photographed at the 2023 Nanchang Airshow. Posted by @FATIII Aviation on Twitter (also known as @FATIII on Weibo).

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its like an official announcement. this is first time COMAC displayed its long-range wide-bodied airliner under the C929 designation in mainland China.

last Month COMAC CEO also mentioned C929..

ACuriousPLAFan said:

Time to change the name of this thread to "COMAC C929 Widebody Airliner"?

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Done!

sunnymaxi said:

As the contractor of C929 fuselage 'Zhejiang Huarui' Plans to Build a new composite fuselage design, R&D and manufacturing base of nearly 530,000 square meters in Qiantang New district, Hangzhou. The aviation technology R&D center in front of factory was recently delivered and settled. mainly serving the design and R&D service of C929 fuselage , composite wings and other parts.

Functional blocks such as storage area and the main factory building will also be delivered one after another. it is expected to put use in May 2024 with full capacity.

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so if the R&D facility is to be ready in 2024, i guess maiden-flight not until 2030?

drowingfish said:

so if the R&D facility is to be ready in 2024, i guess maiden-flight not until 2030?

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Does not make sense. A C929 with western parts should be ready in less time.

It was reported that China abandoned Russia to continue using Western technology and not delay the certification date.

But if the aircraft will only become operational in 2030, why break with Russia and still expect Western goodwill?

By 2030 Russia will already have years of experience with the SSJ-100, MS-21 and PD-35 engine supply chain all Russian made. Probably a redesigned two engine IL-96 widebody too. So a CRAIC CR929 completely without Western components would be viable about 2030.

By 2030, probably China should also have its own supply chain.

I would not be surprised if there were substantial delays with both PD-35 and whichever aircraft they decide to use it with. Be this a twin engine Il-96 or a new aircraft.

The fact is substantial investments will be required to scale up production of the engines for the MS-21 and SJ-100. Plus there are bound to be delays with flight testing and certification.

They are basically compressing the development period of the avionics to two years. Which I doubt is that realistic. Many components will need to be developed and tested in isolation, then tested operating together, on a test harness, in ground testing in an actual aircraft, and in flight.

The PD-14 engine is only in limited serial production. As for the PD-8 engine it only recently started flight testing on an aerial test platform and I also doubt they will finish testing it this year like they claim. Originally these engines were also never meant to be built on such high numbers. For example only like half the MS-21 were meant to use the PD-14. Not as many MS-21 were meant to be produced either since Aeroflot and other airliners still had contracts to buy several A320NEO and 737MAX. The PD-8 was meant to be used only in token amounts. At the same time the engine manufacturers are bound to also be busy building components and repairing fighter engines due to larger wear and tear than usual with the action in Ukraine. For example Aviadvigatel, which makes the PD-14 engine, also makes the D-30 engine for the MiG-31 and Il-76. And Saturn, which makes the PD-8 engine, also makes the Al-41 series of engines for the Su-35 and Su-57.

Where they might find some respite, I guess, is that with China being able to make the WS-20 and WS-10 by themselves, the production capacity which used to be used for supplying Chinese aviation engine contracts has probably been made available in recent years.

Right now they are concurrently building several MS-21 and SJ-100 aircraft with all Russian components. But as we know happened for example with the Airbus A380 program there might be significant delays even after this stage. I wouldn't be surprised if it took 4-5 years to get these programs in actual serial production. Given that the Russification efforts only started for real last year, this would mean serial production in 2026. In the meantime, given that serial production of these aircraft and their engines will take several years and tens of billions of investment, it is highly unlikely they will be able to finance the wide body airliner to significant degree.

Deino said:

Done!

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Man Deino just jumped on this one