China officially granted the production certificate to its medium passenger plane with which the Asian giant wants to hit the aeronautical market, the C919, to thus begin its large-scale production.
As reported last night by the state news agency Xinhua, the Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China (Comac), the manufacturer of the C919, received the certificate from the Asian country’s Civil Aviation Administration (CAAC).
The C919, which successfully completed its maiden flight in May 2017, obtained its type certificate last September, a document issued to indicate the airworthiness of the design.
“The project must end properly,” Chinese President Xi Jinping said at the time, stressing the importance of “continuing to work to overcome any difficulties.”
The first C919 aircraft is expected to be delivered to China Eastern Airlines in December, with a view to starting commercial flights in 2023.
The Comac aircraft is the great challenge for the company and for China in the aeronautical sector, since it is a narrow-body aircraft, a segment that currently accounts for more than half of the commercial aircraft in operation on the planet.
Depending on its configuration, it can carry between 158 and 174 passengers and has a range of between 4,075 and 5,555 kilometers.
The equivalent models of its main competitors, market leaders, are the American Boeing 737 and the European Airbus A320.