All content in this article is based on official and reliable sources, and the specific information is detailed at the end of the article
Preface
As a large domestic aircraft, the sales volume of C919 has exceeded 1,200 units, and it is also about to usher in the full anniversary of commercial flight.
In addition, the first intercontinental airliner C929 independently developed by China is also a new good news.
The two good news came at the same time, which made many Chinese people excited.
But as the saying goes, one family is happy, and one family is sad.
The mainland has made new progress in independent research and development of large aircraft, and the pressure on Boeing and Airbus in the United States has also increased.
Exceeded 1,200 aircraft
It has been many years since the first successful test flight of the C919.
During this period of time, China's aviation industry has achieved tremendous development, whether it is C919 sales or commercial flight, it has achieved great achievements.
Today, orders for the C919 have reached more than 1,200 aircraft.
This also shows that C919 has been affirmed by many countries.
Reference source: Southern Metropolis Daily - February 27, 2024 "C919 orders exceed 1200"
In order to be able to complete the order of thousands of aircraft as soon as possible, Continental decided to build the second final assembly plant of the C919.
On May 6, AVIC announced the location of the second C919 assembly plant on Weibo, which will be located in Pudong New District, Shanghai.
The first final assembly plant for the C919 was in Shanghai, and we have extensive experience in this area.
Therefore, many people are not surprised by the end of the second assembly plant of C919.
With these two assembly plants, the sales of C919 will also increase year by year, becoming a new color in Continental's aviation industry.
According to Air China's announcement on April 26, orders for C919 will be delivered in batches from 2024 to 2031.
In addition to these, Air China has also published a base price for each aircraft.
This includes the airframe, additional parts, and the price of the engine.
We have gone from being impoverished to now having the first domestic large aircraft independently developed and produced, which only we know.
But fortunately, now that our aviation industry has developed tremendously, we will no longer be choked by the neck as before.
In addition to the frequent good news of C919, C929 has also made new progress.
What's new in C929
According to a report by Hong Kong's "Wen Wei Po" on May 12, a prototype of the C929 will be seen in the near future.
Not only that, Tong Yu, deputy general manager of COMAC customer service company, also said that the test flight of the C929 may be "soon".
They have already started preparing for the relevant airworthiness certification and are expected to submit their application to the Civil Aviation Authority by the end of this year.
According to the information revealed by Tong Yu, we can know that C929 is likely to be ready for commercialization.
Reference source: Reference news - May 12, 2024 "C929, there is new progress! 》
Prior to this, a joint public relations kick-off meeting for the C929 project was also held.
The main purpose of this meeting is to solve some technical problems faced in the design and production process of C929.
For this purpose, a number of experts from the Faculty of Engineering were also invited.
With the concerted efforts of these experts, the technical issues regarding the C929 were finally resolved.
Reference source: The Paper - On April 17, 2024, the "C929 Project Joint Research Kick-off Conference was held"
It is worth mentioning that the carbon emissions of C929 will be reduced by 60%.
When designing the C919, chief designer Wu Guanghui said that compared with other models, the C919 can reduce carbon emissions by 12%-15%.
The C929 is a greater improvement on this basis.
As we all know, the aviation industry has always been a "difficult household" to reduce carbon emissions.
According to the International Energy Agency, in 2022, the aviation industry accounted for 2% of global carbon emissions.
Although the proportion is not very large, the growth rate is indeed very fast.
At the current growth rate, the aviation industry will account for 25% of global carbon emissions in the future.
In the face of such a grim situation, when designing the C929, Continental also included the green environmental protection goal of emission reduction and carbon reduction.
Now the C929 has made new progress, and it will meet us in the near future, plus the sales of the C919 have exceeded thousands of orders.
Reference source: Science and Technology Daily - October 22, 2023 "C919 Chief Designer Wu Guanghui: C929 Carbon Emissions Will Be Reduced by 60%"
All these phenomena have shown that the mainland's aviation and flight undertakings have made tremendous progress.
In the early days of the founding of the People's Republic of China, some European countries ridiculed us for not having our own planes.
But now, we have developed our own large aircraft, and we have become an eagle that really soars in the sky, which can be regarded as a slap in the face of those countries.
Pressure and concern in the United States
However, this is good news for us, but not necessarily good news for the United States.
As we all know, the Boeing aircraft of the United States can be described as world-famous, and it is not only one of the largest civil aircraft manufacturers in the world.
At the same time, it is also one of the world's largest manufacturers of military aircraft.
Once upon a time, Boeing planes in the United States were almost hard to find.
Even some of the mainland's commercial aircraft are purchased from Boeing.
However, in recent years, Boeing aircraft have had various accidents one after another, and sales have been declining year by year.
In April of this year, Boeing delivered only 24 commercial jets.
Reference source: Jiemian News - May 14, 2024 "Boeing Delivers 24 Commercial Aircraft in April"
This is Boeing's lowest monthly delivery since February 2022.
Such a huge change has also made Boeing aircraft feel a certain amount of pressure.
Especially after the grounding of the Boeing 747 MAX 9 in January this year, many people are very worried about the delivery quality of Boeing in the United States.
Reference source: Xinhuanet - January 11, 2024 "Summary|737 MAX 9 continues to be grounded, Boeing admits mistakes"
After all, before this, the American Boeing plane had many air crashes due to various trivial incidents.
The accident was also caused by a door plug on the side of the cabin falling off, despite the aircraft making an emergency landing.
But if it's a few seconds late, no one knows what will happen.
Jennifer Hormendy, chairman of the National Transportation Safety Board, also said on January 10 that the Boeing 737 MAX 9 cannot be put back into service until the cause of the door plug fell off is fully understood.
As early as April this year, the United States realized that the C919 could be a strong competitor to them.
Although the number of orders delivered by COMAC was not large at that time, it had already attracted the attention of American Airlines.
Even Mike Yomans, head of valuation and consulting at IBA in the United States, has said it.
Boeing's challenges have raised eyebrows about the opportunities ahead of COMAC. The question is, will COMAC be able to capitalize on Boeing's weakened position in the short term?
Now, the orders for C919 have exceeded thousands of orders, and C929 has also had a new development.
On the other hand, the Boeing Company in the United States has all kinds of things.
This has put American Airlines under pressure like never before.
Reference source: Reference news - April 10, 2024 "Breaking the monopoly of Boeing and Airbus, COMAC may become a "dark horse""
epilogue
Although the C919 and C929 have made new progress, they may face considerable difficulties in obtaining airworthiness certificates.
This airworthiness certificate is not issued by the Civil Aviation Administration of the mainland, but refers to the airworthiness certificate issued by the United States.
Only by obtaining the airworthiness certificate issued by the United States, C919 can open the European market and rush to the world.
Although we will encounter some difficulties in the European and American markets.
However, it is believed that these difficulties will be easily solved with the continuous development of the mainland's aerospace industry.