BEIJING - The maker of China's largest commercial aircraft, the C919, said it hopes to captureone-third of the country's single-aisle aircraft market in 20 years, breaking the lengthydomination of that market by Boeing and Airbus.
Following the first 100 orders for C919s announced last November, the Commercial AircraftCorporation of China will announce new orders next month, said Tian Min, the corporation'schief accountant, at the Aviation Expo China 2011 in Beijing on Sept 21.
The new orders will be signed with customers from home and abroad, said Tian, withoutelaborating. He did say there will be more than 50 orders.
The C919 is expected to take its maiden flight in 2014 and the first delivery will be made by2016.
So far the plane's overall layout plan has beenfinalized, and the project is expected to enter theengineering development stage soon, he said.
However, as both Airbus and Boeing have announcedre-engined single-aisle jetliner models, which will bedirect competitors with the C919, Tian admittedcompetition in the market sector will be intensified.
"Our advantages partly lie in the cheapermanufacturing cost," he said.
Dang Tiehong, director of market research for theaircraft corporation, said that markets in Africa andneighboring countries are also believed to be potentialcustomers for the C919.
In China, the 150-seat C919 and the ARJ21, a 90-seat regional aircraft developed by thecorporation, will be the "main force" in northern and western parts of China, where most of 55new airports will be built by 2015, Dang said.
China is expected to have a passenger plane fleet of 5,400 planes by 2030, including 3,800single-aisle jetliners, according to the market outlook released by the corporation on Sept 21.
Single-aisle aircraft are now the most widely used models in China and the world.
The number of single-aisle jets in China doubled to 1,258 in the five years to 2010 and isforecast to grow at 5.7 percent annually over the next 20 years. Single-aisle jets now accountfor 78 percent of China's passenger fleet.
As more than half of the current fleet will be retired in the next 20 years, 3,100 single-aislejetliners will be brought into service in China in the next 20 years, according to the corporation.
Meanwhile, the domestic aero-engine for the C919 made its debut when a model of it wasdisplayed at the aviation expo that opened on Sept 21 and will run until Sept 24.
The aero-engine, CJ-1000A, was named after the Yangtze River, one of China's longest rivers,to symbolize continuous power for the domestically developed commercial engines.
The developer of the engine, AVIC Commercial Aircraft Engine, said the engine is expected tobe approved as airworthy by 2020.
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