China's home-built jetliner makes maiden flight

Shanghai- #China is expected this week to conduct the maiden test flight of a home-grown passenger jet built to meet soaring domestic travel demand and challenge the dominance of Boeing and Airbus.

"If weather conditions are not suitable, the flight will be rescheduled".

The narrow-body jet represents almost a decade of effort in a state-mandated drive to reduce dependence on European consortium Airbus and U.S. aerospace giant Boeing. However, the jet likely faces a lengthy journey from first flight to commercial usage. "We are proud of our partnership with COMAC and eager to continue to help advance aviation capabilities in China".

According to Huanqiu.com, an affiliation to People's Daily, the aircraft had no passenger seats installed, and instead carried a "large number of devices" to collect data points during the maiden flight.

Similarly, the C919 will boast a range of between 4,075 and 5,555km, putting it in the category of medium-haul aircraft.

China is clearly planning for the long term here, and will not be daunted if breaking into the market takes a few years.

His words to workers were emblazoned on C919's production facility: 'Accelerate the construction of the world's top aviation company and continue to make new contributions to develop a strong aviation industry'. Both put the combined price tags for those planes at around 1 trillion. All expressed confidence in the new aircraft and the potential for further collaboration in China.

And this situation was even more acute when it came to global flights: Chinese aircraft technology was little known in the West, and there were a number of safety concerns. A total of 23 domestic and foreign customers have placed orders.

The most populous country in the world is engaged in efforts to become a significant player in the global aviation sector.

"You are going to have three big companies".

A Chinese aviation expert predicted that the plane would "rip a hole" in the Boeing-Airbus duopoly, and ordinary Chinese burst with pride.

#China has dreamed of building its own civil aircraft since the 1970s, when it began work on the narrow-body Y-10, which was eventually deemed unviable and never entered service. The Chinese previously stated that they meant to sell more than 2,000 of the aircraft over two decades after the jet entered into service.

The ARJ 21 is now restricted to flying domestic routes as it still lacks the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) certification that would allow it to fly United States skies. FAA certification is essential if the Chinese wish to sell the C919 to foreign airlines.

Although it was first due to fly in 2014, manufacturing problems delayed C919's maiden flight.

Besides the C919, #China is also working with Russian Federation to develop a long-haul wide-bodied jet called the C929.

The C919's first flight is set for about 2:00 p.m. local time in Shanghai, a Comac spokesman said.

Behind the celebrations of a Made-in-China jet is the reality that Comac was able to build its new plane using a string of Western suppliers.

China's first domestically made commercial jet, the twin-engine regional ARJ-21, flew its first passengers in June 2016, eight years after its first test flight.