For the first demonstration flight of its C919 passenger jet outside China, state-backed aircraft maker Comac headed to Singapore — a clear sign that the would-be rival to Boeing and Airbus saw south-east Asia as its best opportunity for overseas sales.
“It can lay out a foundation for [our] up-and-coming
south-east Asian market,” Comac said in a statement on Chinese social media.
After Singapore, the company headed to Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Malaysia and
Indonesia.
With up to an estimated $72bn of state-related support over
the past 15 years, the development of the single-aisle aircraft is seen as a
big step forward for President Xi Jinping’s vision of moving China up the value
chain in technology and providing more of a challenge to its western rivals —
particularly at a moment when Boeing’s safety record is under scrutiny after a
door panel blew out on a plane in January.
“The C919 has a strong opportunity to gain market share,
particularly in its domestic market,” said Mike Yeomans, director of valuations and consulting at
aviation consultancy IBA, noting that rival aircraft from Airbus and Boeing are
sold out for most of this decade. But he added: “The immediate challenges for
Comac are around production, to meet local demand and certification to
penetrate international markets.”
Since the C919’s inaugural commercial flight in May last
year, only five aircraft have come into service domestically, all of them
delivered to majority state-owned China Eastern Airlines. The Chinese market is
the biggest near-term opportunity for the C919, Yeomans said.
While the C919 is yet to be certified by aviation
authorities in Europe and the US and is only able to operate commercially in
China, aviation analysts said regulators in some south-east Asian, African and
Latin American countries might approve it more quickly. Indonesia’s TransNusa,
partly owned by China Aircraft Leasing Group, is already operating two of
Comac’s smaller ARJ21 aircraft.
“If an airline deploys a Comac jet to fly to countries whose
regulators have certified the aircraft, there’s no reason for potential buyers
to bother about what the US or EU says,” said Shukor Yusof, founder of aviation
consultancy Endau Analytics.