China Looks To Compete With Boeing, Airbus In Single Aisle Market

The Chinese-built C919 made its first flight Friday following a delay of three years. The aircraft was to have originally flown in 2014, but production and other issues continually delayed the milestone. 

Still, COMAC, the state-owned company manufacturing the C919, is hopeful that the Chinese airliner will one day be competitive with single-aisle aircraft from Boeing and Airbus, the two big dogs in that space. 

Reuters reports that the initial flight of the C919 lasted about 80 minutes. It flew over the Yangtze River delta where it performed several maneuvers before returning south along the coast to land back at Shanghai International Airport. The plane flew at an altitude of about 10,000 feet at speeds up to 161 knots.

A letter from China's ministerial cabinet was read after the plane landed. The cabinet called the first flight a "major breakthrough" in the country's passenger jet industry. The flight went smoothly, and all systems functioned as designed, according to the minister of industry.

COMAC began work on the C919 in 2008.  And many years of flight testing may lie ahead for certification in China, let alone the U.S. and Europe. It was six years between first flight and Chinese certification for the country's first indigenous airliner, the ARJ-21. 

(Image from YouTube video posted by CGTN)

FMI: english.comac.cc