China certifies domestically-manufactured jet, to compete with Boeing, Airbus
Model of China's domestically made C919 passenger jet
China's first domestically produced aircraft, the C919, which earned its government-issued fit-to-fly certificate on Friday, is anticipated to compete with Boeing and Airbus, but it still has a long way to go before doing so.
The 168-seat, single-aisle, medium-haul aircraft was developed by the Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China (COMAC) over the course of around 14 years, and is intended to compete with the Boeing 737 Max and the Airbus A320neo in the coming years.
The airworthiness certificate was highlighted by Chinese state media and analysts, who claimed that with Airbus being a European corporation, China is now the only other nation save the US that is capable of producing a large passenger aircraft.
President Xi Jinping, who met representatives from the C919 project team on Friday, called the development a breakthrough in “China’s high-end equipment manufacturing” and urged “for solid progress in building the country into a manufacturing powerhouse”.
“Safety and reliability should come first, and all potential safety hazards should be eliminated,” Xi was quoted as saying by the official news agency Xinhua.
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The plane made a successful first flight in 2017 and will deliver its first C919 passenger plane by year's end.
A renowned civil aviation expert from China stated that the C919, the development of which has been dubbed a landmark project, receiving the airworthiness certificate is a symbol of China being a "manufacturing power" and its "level of industrialization," adding that the "C919 still has a long way to go."
According to official media, the C919 has 28 customers and has 815 planes overall in orders. China Eastern, one of China's top airlines, may be the C919's first customer.
(With inputs from agencies)
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