Commercial Aircraft Corp of China (Comac), which operates the final assembly line of the mainland's first 156-seat aircraft, will announce initial customers for the 'big aircraft' by the first half of next year.
The company had received oral or written requests from a number of airlines and aircraft leasing companies to buy the C919, said Chen Jin, the general manager of sales and marketing. However, he refrained from giving a projection of how many aircraft will be ordered by the first batch of customers.
'We will offer special discounts and concessions on after-sales service to the initial customers,' Chen said. 'We cannot confirm the list of customers before getting consent from our suppliers over the discounted price.'
Stung by the inadequacies of its home-grown aviation sector, China has been trying to revive the industry with its 'big aircraft' project, a large civil jetliner to compete with Airbus, Boeing, Bombardier and Embraer.
The C919 is due to launch its first flight in 2014 and enter commercial service in 2016. Almost all the procurement contracts for the aircraft have completed the tendering process except for supplying the engine.
Chen said he had requested the three potential bidders for the C919 engine contract to achieve a 12 to 15 per cent cut in fuel consumption.
