A Chinese home-grown business jet is on the way. Will it rival Gulfstream?

China’s state-owned aircraft maker is stepping up efforts to break into the business jet market with its CBJ model

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The Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China (Comac) showcases its CBJ private jet at an exhibition in the southern Chinese city of Guangzhou in October. Photo: Weibo

Published: 11:00am, 6 Dec 2025

China’s top aircraft maker is stepping up efforts to promote its first business jet as it looks to break into a market dominated by Western aviation firms like Gulfstream Aerospace.

The Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China (Comac) took the rare step of showcasing a completed version of the model – called the Comac Business Jet, or CBJ – at an exhibition in the southern Chinese city of Guangzhou in October.

The move signalled the state-owned company was “seeking to break into the large-cabin VIP aircraft market” with the CBJ, aviation industry news outlet AIN Media Group reported on Thursday.

The CBJ is adapted from Comac’s C909 commercial passenger jet, which is already used by airlines in China and several other countries. The business jet version can reportedly seat as many as 29 passengers.

It first received regulatory approval a decade ago, and the Civil Aviation Administration of China issued the twin-jet’s type certificate validation in 2021, according to AIN.

The Chinese model is intended eventually to compete with Gulfstream – the iconic American company that made the world’s first purpose-built business aircraft in 1958 – along with Airbus, Boeing, Bombardier and other players in the crowded private aircraft market.

“They might have made a decision to compete in the same sector,” said David Dixon, the Hong Kong-based president of business aircraft seller Jetcraft Asia, adding that aircraft firms often used exhibitions to gauge the market.

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