Boeing and Airbus generally rule the skies for consumer travel, though China has a contender. But why can’t the C919 airliner make international flights?
For the past few decades, there have been two major players in the commercial aircraft sector — Boeing and Airbus. Now, there is a rising challenger looking to break the stranglehold of the dominant American and European giants. The Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China (COMAC) has designed and built its narrow-bodied C919 model to directly compete with the Airbus A320 and Boeing 737 families. China’s COMAC C919 entered service in 2023 and is currently being used on internal Chinese routes and on flights to the Chinese Special Administrative Region of Hong Kong. However, right now, the C919 is confined to internal flights and Hong Kong, although the latter is technically considered an international flight.
Border technicalities aside, the C919 is currently restricted to flying within Chinese airspace. This delay in reaching international markets is largely due to certification issues. In the case of Europe, according to the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA), this is expected to take between three and six years. The case is different when considering when we can expect to see the plane in US skies; currently, COMAC is not looking to gain certification from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). Although, the International Civil Aviation Organization list has 193 member states, and COMAC is actively seeking certification from several of these regulatory bodies.
