UPDATE - The strict Covid-policy of the Chinese government is further delaying the test flight and certification campaign of the COMAC C919. The latest lockdown that hurts the program is that of the entire city of Xi’an since December 22. As a result, four of the six test aircraft are stranded at Xi’an’s Yanliang test base as the crew isn’t allowed to leave the city. Xi'an lockdown is further delaying COMAC C919. China is continuing a very cautious policy on Covid infections since the outbreak of the first wave in Wuhan at the end of 2019 and early 2020. Entire companies or harbors are known to have been closed in the past months only after the discovery of a single infection. Xi’an has seen over 1.100 infections between early and late December, forcing the authorities to seal the entire city with thirteen million citizens until further notice. That COMAC has been hurt by the lockdown becomes clear from a press release on the Chinese version of its website. While the company isn’t giving away any details, it describes the visit of He Dongfeng to COMAC’s test and flight test base at Dongying on January 1 and 2. Dongfeng is secretary of the communist party and the chairman of COMAC. Together with Zhao Jiufang, who is the head of the state commission that supervises the airframer, they paid a visit to “visit the cadres and workers who were still fighting in the front line of the model development during the New Year’s Day, participate in the pre-flight preparation meeting, and discuss and exchange with everyone, looking back on the stormy year of 2021 and the deployment of 2022 full of hope.” In the release, Dongfeng referred to the difficult situation in which the test team has had to do its work in 2021. In prosaic language, he said: "In 2021, the complex and changeable external environment and the century epidemic situation are intertwined, and the company's model development is facing an unprecedented test, but all the large aircraft people have withstood the test and proved with practical actions that we are a hardcore core team that cannot be defeated, cannot be broken, cannot be broken, advances in spite of difficulties, faces difficulties, and is loyal to the cause of large aircraft. In the new year, although there are still some difficulties to be overcome and some 'fortresses' to be overcome, the dawn of victory is already ahead.” '2021 was a path of thorns' Jiufang referred to the C919’s development in 2021 as a “path full of thorns.” COMAC’s deputy general manager, Wei Yingbao, was quoted as saying that “although the current test flight of the C919 aircraft at Yanliang (which is just northeast of Xi’an- RS) has been affected to a certain extent due to the pandemic, under the joint efforts of all parties, other work related to evidence collection is still advancing in an orderly manner.” C919 test aircraft B-001E, seen here in 2019, last flew on December 25. (COMAC) COMAC has a fleet of six C919 test aircraft. Data from FlightAware confirms that four of them haven’t been active since December. The first prototype, registered B-001A, was last active at Xi’an on December 20, two days before the city was closed off. Aircraft B-001C hasn’t even been active since November 16 and is also in Xi’an. B-001D last flew from Xi’an on December 24 for a one-hour 44 minutes test flight but has been on the ground in Xi’an since then. The fourth aircraft in the capital of Shaanxi province is B-001E, which last flew on December 25 for one hour and fourteen minutes. Two other C919s are at the test field at Dongying that was visited by He Dongfeng. On December 27, B-001F performed a four hours, one-minute flight, but she hasn’t flown since then. B-001G has been the most active in the past week, doing six flights out of Dongying since December 30 and being airborne for 21 hours and twelve minutes. Today on January 4, she even did a five hours fourteen minutes flight near the city that is southeast of Beijing and Tianjin. Aircraft B-001H hasn’t flown since April 28, 2021, and is at the COMAC factory in Shanghai Pudong. China Eastern had expected to have received the first C919 by now The extent of the delays caused by multiple restrictions and lockdowns on the C919 test campaign isn’t clear, as COMAC is very scarce with information. However, earlier in 2021, China Eastern Airlines said it expected to receive the first C919 before the end of the year. The airline and COMAC signed an agreement on March 1 last year to confirm the purchase of the first five C919s and become the first operator of the type. China Eastern signed a Letter of Intent for twenty back in 2010. The first aircraft for the airline reportedly entered the final assembly in September. There is no information available when the Chinese regulatory agency CAAC expects to certify the C919 and China Eastern will introduce her to the domestic network. The 158-174 seater first flew on May 5, 2017, three weeks before the Russian Irkut MC-21 did her maiden flight. The Irkut received an initial Russian type certificate on December 28, so it has jumped its Chinese rival despite its own difficulties. It is known that the C919 suffered setbacks earlier in the program when a redesign of the wing was needed over a structural issue. In November 2020, the aircraft was granted type inspection authorization. COMAC is also suffering from US sanctions and the strained relationship with the West. They have slowed down export licenses for western equipment onboard the jet. This includes navigation systems from Rockwell Collins, the landing gear from Liebherr, the fuel system from Parker Aerospace, brakes and wheels from Honeywell, and seats from Safran. Although the airframer takes delivery of CFM LEAP-1C engines, it is said that the delivery rate has been at a reduced rate. UPDATE January 13: COMAC seems to have received permission to resume flight testing from Xi'an. Aircraft B-001D was airborne again on January 10 and also flew on the 13th. B-001E flew again on January 6. B-001F was active at Dongying on January 13, while B-001G has continued flying at Dongying on January 5, 6, 7, 9, and 11.
