The C919, the first step in China’s invasion of the global aeronautical market

This is a first for Chinese C919 aircraft. Its maker, Commec, is presenting it internationally for the first time, as part of the Singapore Airshow, the largest Asian air show, which opened its doors this Tuesday. The C919 is not only on display, it will be performing a flight. When the program was launched in 2007, it showed ambitions to break the Western Airbus-Boeing duopoly in aircraft with more than 100 passengers. Seventeen years later, this is still not the case. The program, developed in partnership with Western suppliers, notably CFM International, a joint venture between French Safran and American GE that supplies the Leap C engines, has experienced delays. Certified by Caac, the Chinese aviation safety agency, in September 2022, five years after its first test flight in 2017 (initially planned for 2014), the C919 is slated to enter service in late May 2023. A handful of devices are flying…