The Chinese jet to challenge Airbus and Boeing

Industrial products where the Chinese are not self-sufficient are rare. Commercial jets are one of them. But the state-owned China Commercial Aircraft, known as Comac, is committed to changing that story. The C919 jet, a twin-engine narrow-body aircraft with a capacity for up to 174 passengers, has just made its first international commercial flight.

The aircraft, operated by Air China, took off from Beijing on Wednesday afternoon and landed two hours later in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia. For now, the C919 does not have certification from the two main aviation agencies in the world, the American FAA and the European EASA. But its international debut, after years of delay, means that Airbus and Boeing may see their duopoly threatened in this market.

In the narrow-body jet category, with a single corridor configuration and three seats on each side, the dominant aircraft are the A320 family from Airbus and the 737 from Boeing. Since May, China has been delaying the approval of Airbus deliveries, and according to Bloomberg, this is happening because European authorities are taking time to certify Comac's new jets.

The model also heavily relies on imported technology, which means Chinese self-sufficiency in this area may still take years. The engines, for example, are manufactured by CFM International, a joint venture between GE Aerospace and French Safran Aircraft Engines. According to CNBC, Comac placed 32 C919 jets on the market last year - one-third of the total number of aircraft that Airbus delivered in China during the same period.

With Donald Trump's tariff war, Beijing has been reducing its imports from Boeing. Chinese airlines have already represented more than 20% of American manufacturer's sales; now, they are around 5%. The Chinese are the main customers of Airbus, with an expectation of acquiring more than 9,000 aircraft over the next two decades. Beijing controls the country's three largest airlines, which together account for half of domestic capacity.

This gives Comac a solid base of buyers. But analyst Rob Morris told CNBC that "Comac's development and production pace is still too slow" to threaten the two leaders. "It's not enough to develop, manufacture, and deliver the aircraft. The manufacturer needs to offer 24/7 operation support throughout the year to ensure that the reliability of the C919 matches that of the A320 and 737 models, which are well-known and consolidated," Morris said.

"That takes time." In the regional jet segment, currently dominated by Embraer, the Comac C909 has been accelerating sales, driven by Chinese government incentives. According to the Chinese state-owned company, 186 jets of this family have been delivered since its commercial debut in June 2016, still under the name ARJ21. The aircraft has a 70% share of the regional aircraft fleet.

Outside of China, the jet is in service in Laos, Indonesia, and Vietnam, including international routes connecting these countries. The Embraer's E2 family fleet in operation totals 195 aircraft, and there are over 500 firm orders to be delivered in the coming years.