COMAC C919 Completes First International Flight to Mongolia

COMAC’s C919 completed its first international flight earlier today, flying from Beijing to Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia. This marks a milestone for the program, which is intended to compete with the Boeing 737 MAX and Airbus A320neo family. An International Flight is a Starting Point The good news is that the C919 will now operate daily on an international route, a major milestone. [caption id="attachment_196614" align="aligncenter" width="640"] image: Global Times[/caption] The bad news is that the C919 is not yet a fully accepted international aircraft, as it has not yet gained certification from one of the two major western aviation authorities. Certification by the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) will go a long way to opening global markets for the aircraft. That process is underway, but is not expected to be completed until the 2028-2031 time frame. The C919 uses International Engines and Components While the C919 meets a goal to establish a commercial aircraft industry in China, the aircraft currently relies on a significant number of western suppliers. The aircraft uses the LEAP-1C engines that are built by CFM International, a joint venture of General Electric in the US and Safran Aircraft Engines in France. Similarly, some specialized components on the aircraft are also supplied by western suppliers, which were temporarily stopped in 2025 when export licenses were suspended by the United States. While those restrictions were short-lived and have been restored, they do indicate the potential for geopolitical risk. China is currently developing domestic alternatives for those components, including the domestic CJ-1000A engine to replace the LEAP-1C. However, they will likely remain under development for several more years and cannot reduce the dependence on foreign suppliers today. Ramping-Up Production has Proven Difficult COMAC developed the C919 for the most popular segment of commercial aircraft, and has domestic orders for more than 1,000 aircraft from Chinese airlines. But converting those orders into aircraft has proven more difficult than planned. COMAC fell short of its goal to produce 75 aircraft in 2025, instead delivering only 15 for the year. While the production rate continues to slowly grow, it remains well short of the several dozens of aircraft produced each month by Airbus and Boeing. If COMAC is to meet China’s goal of reducing its dependence on Airbus and Boeing, the company will need to dramatically ramp-up production while maintaining high quality in manufacturing. That has proven to be a difficult task even for the experienced manufacturers, as exemplified by the Boeing 737 MAX flaws and groundings, and the supply chain issues that slowed Airbus A350 production. But both of those companies have recovered quickly and are rapidly raising production rates in 2026. Can COMAC Turn the Duopoly into a Oligopoly? With a substantial available market in China, and the potential to expand sales outside of China, COMAC does offer the possibility for a third major competitor in commercial aircraft. But to accomplish that, a number of milestones need to be completed. Today’s first international flight is one such milestone, but is minor when compared with other challenges facing the company. COMAC need to dramatically increase production and build-up its reputation for reliability, service, and support before it completes its first decade in service. That can only come from delivering significant numbers of aircraft and evaluating their performance in-service against the competition. But three years after entry into service having just over 100 aircraft in service pales in comparison to the 60-100 competing aircraft per month being produced by the two competitors. Plus, to remain fully independent, COMAC will need to help develop and replace the western components and engines on the aircraft with Chinese produced items. It is difficult task to develop new engines and new suppliers to reduce foreign dependency, but this appears politically necessary for China to maintain competitiveness. Over the longer-term, there is still hope that COMAC can emerge as a third player to provide an alternative to Airbus and Boeing. But the challenges facing the company, and the remaining hurdles, including EASA certification, will take time. Fortunately, China has recognized the long-term nature of market entry into the commercial aviation segment, and is providing support towards that objective. Nonetheless, unless COMAC can begin to dramatically increase its production and begin to significantly reduce its backlog, it won’t quickly become the independent third competitor that could break into the Airbus-Boeing commercial aircraft duopoly. COMAC has come a long way, but those remain early steps in a long journey.

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