Following the purchase of six aircraft at the end of 2023, Air China announced on the evening of April 26, 2024 that it had signed an agreement with Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China to purchase 100 C919 domestic mainline airliners. According to COMAC's catalogue quotation, the unit price of the C919 is $108 million, and the new order value of these 100 aircraft exceeds $10 billion, reaching $10.8 billion.
The contract for the 100 C919s is scheduled to be delivered to Air China in batches from 2024 to 2031 and will be completed within eight years. It is estimated that five of Air China's first six contracts will be delivered in 2024, and after that, as COMAC's production capacity ramps up, deliveries will gradually increase, and the maximum annual delivery may exceed 25 aircraft.
As a domestic mainline airliner independently developed by China, the C919 has attracted much attention since its first flight in 2017. Air China's order for 100 C919s is undoubtedly a recognition of COMAC's strength and a manifestation of its confidence in domestic large aircraft.
The C919 passenger aircraft is the first new generation of trunk airliner independently developed in accordance with international civil aviation regulations in mainland China, with independent intellectual property rights. Since its successful maiden flight on May 5, 2017, the C919 has received orders from many domestic and foreign airlines for as many as 1,350 aircraft. Air China's order for 100 additional C919s will help improve the market competitiveness of domestic large aircraft and further promote the development of China's civil aviation industry.
Similarly, Air China's large order, worth more than US$10 billion, is also an important milestone for COMAC. This will help COMAC increase production capacity, optimize production processes, and improve product quality. At the same time, it will also play a positive role in promoting COMAC's internationalization strategy. In the future, with the gradual increase in the delivery of C919 passenger aircraft, domestic large aircraft will surely occupy a place in the global civil aviation market.