C919 tour gives students a glimpse of China’s ‘road to take-off’
Students shown the final assembly of China’s C919 home-grown passenger jet as its manufacturing base in Shanghai
In a large workshop near the Pudong International Airport in the eastern suburbs of Shanghai, six C919 planes were being assembled under four red banners with slogans reading “Long-term dedication, long-term hardship, long-term research, long-term endeavour.”
Opposite the banners were over 30 schoolchildren and parents enjoying a bird’s-eye view on a high-rise corridor as a tour guide explained the progress for building each aircraft.
They were one of the student groups that the Shanghai-based and state-owned Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China (Comac) had welcomed since a study tour programme was launched in mid-September in a bid to inspire national pride among the new generation.
Offering a rare glimpse at the final assembly of China’s home-grown passenger jet, the one-day tour across Comac’s major manufacturing base in Pudong is designed to allow students to experience China’s “road to take-off” and have a dream of flying, according to the official introduction.
“C919 starts with a C, that is short for China, and at the same time, coincidently in alphabetic order, follows B as in Boeing and A as in Airbus, the world’s two plane making giants,” tour guide Chen Shuliang from China Travel Service (CTS), the sole partner of Comac’s tour service, told the children.
Promoted as a potential challenger in global aviation, the C919 is China’s version of the Boeing 737 and Airbus A320 families of aircraft, which are two of the bestselling models worldwide.