UPDATE – COMAC reportedly has won orders for 300 C919 aircraft as well as for thirty ARJ21s, the Chinese airframer announced on the first day of the Airshow China, better known as the Zhuhai Airshow. If all orders are new is not known. COMAC C919 wins orders for 300 aircraft at Airshow China.
According to the Global Times, orders were placed by seven Chinese leasing companies: Guoyin Financial Leasing, ICBC Leasing, CCB Financial Leasing, Jiaoyin Financial Leasing, Zhaoyin Financial Leasing, SPDB Leasing, and Suyin Financial Leasing. The first five lessors are said to have ordered fifty C919s each. A COMAC press statement says these are “signed confirmed orders” and adds that “the order for this signing event fully expresses the confidence of leasing partners in the C919 aircraft and ARJ21 aircraft.” Some lessors have been in the order book for almost a decade, but if these orders are new, they would take the C919 backlog to some 1.115 aircraft. The airframer itself hasn’t shared a new number of orders and options.
The C919 made its airshow debut in Zhuhai. Last Saturday, COMAC sent pre-production aircraft B-001F from Shanghai to Zhuhai, where the airshow takes place until Sunday. The aircraft rehearsed its flying display on Monday, before entertaining the public on the first day of the show on Tuesday. The C919 received the type certificate on September 29. The first of five aircraft for China Eastern Airlines is expected to be delivered before the end of this year.
The medical version of the ARJ21 is on static display in Zhuhai. (COMAC)
In the static display area, COMAC showed the medical version of its ARJ21 regional aircraft. “This multi-purpose medical aircraft with intensive care unit (ICU) function and modular space layout design has the functions of medical rescue and medical transport, and can serve the domestic aviation medical rescue network. The typical configuration of the ARJ21 medical aircraft on display has different functional zones, mainly including three areas: expert area, attaché area and ICU area”, COMAC says on its website. Also on display were models of four different versions of the ARJ21.
Chinese market set to grow to 10.007 aircraft
COMAC released its 2022-2041 market forecast today. The airframer predicts that the market for commercial aircraft in China will grow to 10.007 airliners in 2041, slightly up from 9.957 in 2040 in last year’s outlook. This is a net increase of 9.284 aircraft from now and includes 958 regional aircraft, 6.288 narrowbodies, and 2.038 widebody aircraft. This will take the share of the Chinese fleet to 21.1 percent, which is slightly below 22 percent in the previous outlook but still makes China the single biggest aircraft market. The forecast is based on a 3.9 percent annual growth of revenue passenger kilometers (RPK) and an economic growth of 2.6 per year. The global fleet will grow to 47.531 in 2041, thinks COMAC.
Embraer will release its market outlook for China on Wednesday and has brought the E195-E2 TechLion to Zhuhai. ATR has also scheduled a press conference on Wednesday. The French OEM announced earlier today that the type certificate of the 42-600 has been validated by the Chinese authorities and won an order for three aircraft from an undisclosed customer.
