China’s homegrown airliner Comac will conduct test flights of its C919 passenger plane in Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Malaysia and Indonesia to promote the aircraft in Southeast Asia, the company said on Tuesday.
The C919, which aims to compete with the Airbus 320 and the Boeing 737, is China’s biggest bet in the aeronautical sector as it falls within the narrow-body aircraft segment, which currently accounts for over half of all commercial flights worldwide.
While the C919 uses Western components, it represents China’s effort to reduce its dependence on Western manufacturers in aircraft technology and the long-term goal of developing a fully indigenous supply chain.
According to Comac’s forecasts, the number of civil passenger aircraft will double worldwide in the next two decades to over 51,000.Demand from the Asia-Pacific region is expected to rise from around 3,300 units to around 9,700 in this period.
