China’s C919 aircraft to roll off the line faster as developer expands capacity, but reliance on engine imports risks ‘bottleneck’
- Construction firm under C919 maker Comac announces plan to build a big new construction zone in Shanghai, with an assembly plant and parts warehouse
- As recent high-profile domestic purchases of the home-grown passenger jet have seen the order backlog swell, analysts weigh in supply-chain hurdles
With big orders for the home-grown C919 flying in, China’s chief maker of civilian aircraft has a lofty plan: make the narrowbody planes faster.
Annual production will be expanded – possibly up to 150 in the coming years – to help meet domestic demand for the relatively new passenger jet, giving it a bigger boost in its bid to carve out a piece of the global duopoly long maintained by Airbus and Boeing.
But while the plane’s manufacturer, the Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China (Comac), has plenty of runway to step up production, analysts say that securing engine imports and other parts from the West could prove a more difficult undertaking.
A construction services firm under Comac’s parent company said on Monday that it had secured a bid to build a “phase two” aircraft construction zone spanning 330,000 square metres (3.55 million sq ft) in Shanghai. The project was also said to include an assembly plant and a parts warehouse.
“Completion of the project will meet the future mass-production needs of the C919 aircraft … and provide a strong guarantee for the commercial operation and market competition of domestically produced large aircraft,” the construction services firm said via WeChat, China’s ubiquitous social media platform, before the post was inexplicably deleted.
Nonetheless, the news quickly spread online and sparked discussion.
[Comac] facilities are already well equipped to handle new and future orders
A Comac facility in Nanchang, the capital of Jiangxi province, will help with C919 scientific research and offer support for certification test flights, according to the National Development and Reform Commission.
“My understanding is that Comac’s current operations can cope, as the deliveries are staggered into the next decade,” said Shukor Yusof, founder of Singapore-based aviation consultancy Endau Analytics. “Their facilities are already well equipped to handle new and future orders.”
Comac will have the tools to make 50 C919s this year and 150 annually over the next five years, according to a forecast by the China-based Airwefly aviation platform and content creator.
No other country has certified the C919 for commercial use.
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And analysts have warned that upheaval in global supply chains could result in Comac’s imports of jet engines hitting turbulent headwinds. The C919 uses LEAP-1C model engines made by CFM International, a joint venture between US-based GE Aerospace and Safran Aircraft Engines of France.
“Because all delivery is domestic, if they need to ramp up production, if they need to build new factories, they have the capacity for the fuselage for all of those,” said Eric Lin, head of Greater China research with UBS in Hong Kong. “But they import engines, and that could be a bottleneck.”
And Harry Murphy Cruise, assistant director and economist at Moody’s Analytics, said: “There are always risks in supply chains – be they caused by shortages, natural disasters or geopolitical tensions.”
The US government has already put curbs on its China trade and tech ties over the past six years, often citing national security concerns. US elections in November could make engine shipments “tricky” depending on who’s in office, added Yusof at Endau Analytics.
The Aero Engine Corporation of China has been working on its CJ-1000A engine “as an alternative to the LEAP-1C”, Murphy Cruise said, though it “looks to be a while off”.
That engine could enter service only in the coming decade, at the earliest, said Dennis Lau, consultancy services director with Asian Sky Group.
The C919 uses many imported components, including the engines
The surge in demand from Chinese airlines that normally buy Airbus or Boeing planes will stress-test Comac’s global supply chain, Lau added.
“The C919 uses many imported components, including the engines,” he said. “Engine manufacturer CFM International also supplies similar engines to Airbus and Boeing aircraft, and it would be very difficult for CFM to increase their production rate, given the large number of existing orders.”
Comac’s ascent still leaves space in China for Airbus, whose A320 line of single-aisle aircraft is comparable to the C919. Airbus and China’s state planner have signed a memorandum of understanding on deepening aviation cooperation, Xinhua reported on Tuesday.
Airbus has delayed some aircraft shipments into next year because of supply-chain hitches.
“Boeing needs to show the world it’s getting its act together, and that has yet to happen,” Yusof said.
