China News Service/China News Service via Getty Images
- Comac, China's state-owned planemaker, has huge ambitions to disrupt Boeing and Airbus' hold on aviation.Its main plane, the C919, is a direct competitor to the Boeing 737 and Airbus A320.While it faces obstacles like tariffs, many industry leaders see Comac as a major threat.
For decades, the building of the world's commercial passenger planes has been a duopoly. Get an international flight anywhere in the world, and it's highly likely you'll be on either an Airbus or a Boeing plane.
A Chinese upstart planemaker, Comac, wants to disrupt that, and the signs suggest it has a good chance. Airbus CEO Guillaume Faury has even said the industry could go "from a duopoly to a potential triopoly."
Officially known as the Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China, the planemaker was only founded in 2008, and has not been without challenges and controversy. But with air travel growing rapidly in China and supply chain problems blighting the aviation industry globally, Comac's rise comes at a perfect time.
Comac looks to challenge Airbus and Boeing's dominance
Eight years after its foundation, Comac's first plane entered commercial service. Initially known as the ARJ21, it was later renamed the C909 to unify the company's branding, a sign of Comac's growing ambitions.
Data from Ch-aviation says 145 of these have been delivered to airlines, mostly based in China and a few in Southeast Asia. The plane's chief designer, Chen Yong, told the state news agency Xinhua that 166 are in service.
The C909 is a small jet, with a capacity of between 78 and 90 seats. Designed for regional journeys, it's more likely to compete with planes from the Brazilian manufacturer Embraer.
Comac's more important aircraft is instead the C919, which is similar to Airbus' A320 family and Boeing's 737.
China News Service/China News Service via Getty Images
It's another single-aisle aircraft but has a longer range and can carry between 156 and 168 passengers. Due to the huge demand from airlines, these types of jets have been significant cash cows for Airbus and Boeing.
While Ch-aviation data indicates just 19 C919s have entered commercial service, that number is expected to grow massively. In 2023, Comac Chairman He Dongfeng said there were 1,061 orders, Xinhua reported.
Europe's biggest airline, the Irish budget carrier Ryanair, is also considering buying some.
"The Chinese are basically building a fucking A320. So if it was cheap enough — 10% or 20% cheaper than an Airbus aircraft — then we'd order it," CEO Michael O'Leary told travel industry outlet Skift in March.
However, Florian Guillermet, executive director of the European Union Aviation Safety Agency, told French publication L'Usine Nouvelle in May that certification is still three to six years away.
Plus, the state-owned planemaker isn't without its controversy.
Trade secrets and tariffs
US Congressman Raja Krishnamoorthi, the ranking member of the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party, warned O'Leary not to order the jets, citing allegations of corporate espionage.
Horacio Villalobos/Getty Images
In February, 66-year-old Liming Li, from California, pleaded guilty to possessing trade secrets he downloaded from his former US employer, which specialized in precision measuring. Court documents say FBI agents saw emails with Comac staff and presentations for the company.
Other cases have charged Chinese intelligence officers and hackers with attempting to steal technology about American jet engines, according to the Justice Department.
Donald Trump's tariff plan has also posed a significant threat because the C919 heavily relies on American parts.
According to analysts at Bank of America, it has 48 suppliers from the US, 26 from Europe, and just 14 from China.
"If China stops buying aircraft components from the US, the C919 program is halted or dead," they wrote in an April report.
But ongoing negotiations suggest trade tensions are easing. The Air Current and Reuters reported earlier in July that the US government has allowed GE Aerospace to restart vital engine shipments to Comac.
Comac's future
Beyond the C919, Comac is already working on three other types of jets. That includes two wide-bodies, the C929 and the C939, and a supersonic airliner, the C949.
CFOTO/Future Publishing via Getty Images
Meanwhile, the industry is divided over whether Comac will be able to challenge Airbus and Boeing's dominance.
"Comac is years away from being certified outside China … It's going to be a very limited market for quite some time," John Schmidt, Accenture's global aerospace and defense lead, told Business Insider in an interview at last month's Paris Air Show.
Alternatively, Airbus CEO Faury said in February that Comac was more likely to succeed thanks to its "privileged access" to the Chinese market, which accounts for a fifth of global aircraft demand.
Guillermet told L'Usine Nouvelle that Comac was putting considerable resources into Europe's certification process.
"I have no doubt that it will succeed," he added.
