China's Homemade C919 Jet Takes To Global Skies

Comac said last November that its C929, a long-range 250-to-320-seat wide-body twin-jet airliner, was still in its preliminary design stage. Chinese media said the C919 aims to compete with France's Airbus A320 and America's Boeing 737 while the C929 will compete with the A330, A350 and 787.

Development of the C919 began back in 2008 with the first prototype rolled out in November 2015. The aircraft had its maiden flight in May 2017 and received a flying certificate from the Civil Aviation Administration of China, the country's civil aviation authority, in September 2022.

Although touted as homemade, 40% of the plane's components are imported. Its suppliers include big Western companies including Collins Aerospace, Honeywell and Thales.

Its high-bypass turbofan engine, known as the leading edge aviation propulsion (LEAP-1C), is made by CFM International, a 50-50 joint venture between America's GE Aviation and France's Safran Aircraft Engines.

It hasn't been all clear skies for the jetliner. In a flight from Shanghai to Hefei on February 1, 2023, a C919 jet used by China Eastern Airlines had to shorten its journey and land at the Beijing Capital International Airport because one of its engines during landing failed to open the thrust reverser, which is designed to slow down the plane.

Despite this, the aircraft conducted its first commercial flight from Shanghai to Beijing in May 2023. The Shanghai-Beijing route became a regular service in January 2024.

Chinese commentators have seemingly focused more on supply chain problems rather than safety issues.

“Only when its self-developed CJ1000A engine is available for use in C919, China will no longer have to worry about the West's technology ban,” Xiao Pang, a Henan-based columnist, says in an article.

He says the CJ1000A engine has a thrust of 14.5 tons, exceeding that of LEAP-1C, and will be ready for use in the C919 in 2025. He says, CJ2000, a more powerful engine, will be used in the C929 several years later.

It's unclear whether Comac will rush to replace C919's LEAP-1C with the CJ1000A as a single accident is enough to destroy foreign buyers' confidence in Chinese aircraft.

In 2016, Comac and Russia 's United Aircraft Corporation (UAC) signed a memorandum of understanding for a program to develop a wide-body twin-jet airliner called CR929.

According to previous reports, UAC would pursue international markets while Comac would focus solely on China's markets.

However, the project foundered on disagreements. Chinese pundits said UAC demanded to have a share in China's domestic airliner markets. After the partnership ended in 2023, China renamed the CR929 as C929.

Separately, China had also tried to obtain jet engine technology from Ukraine.

Back in 2015, four Chinese companies, including Skyrizon Aircraft and Xinwei Technology, reportedly purchased a 56% stake in Ukraine's Motor Sich, which produced the D-18T engine, a high-bypass turbofan with a thrust of 23 tons, for use in transport aircraft An-124 and An-225.

In 2016, Aerospace Industry Corporation of China (AICC) and Ukraine's Antonov signed an agreement on a project to produce the An−225.

But in February 2021, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy sanctioned the four Chinese companies, fearing that they would transfer Motor Sich's jet engine technology to China for military use.

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After the Ukraine war broke out in February 2022, Zelenskyy used martial law to nationalize the Zaporizhia-based Motor Sich, which is still under the protection of Ukrainian troops, in November of the same year.

Last November, a series of articles were circulated on the Internet in China claiming that China is capable of replicating the D-18T.

An Anhui-based writer said that with the D-18T, China's military transport aircraft Y-20 can have its lifting power match with the An-124 and also double its range to 6,000 kilometers. A Chongqing-based columnist said China can use the D-18T technology to improve the design of the CJ1000 engine.

China Hangtie Group Co (CAGC), a state-owed company, said in footage circulated on social media in May 2022 that it was going to dismantle the Antonov An-225 Mriya, the world's largest and most powerful transport aircraft, which was shot down by Russian troops in April. Three of the six D-18T engines on the plane were reportedly in good condition.

CAGC later removed the footage from the Internet. China's Paper said there was no evidence that any Chinese company had obtained the An-225.

Yong Jian is a contributor to the Asia Times. He is a Chinese journalist who specializes in Chinese technology, economy and politics.

Read: Chinese C919's engine malfunctions in flight test

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