China’s C909 jet gets international uplift with funding for adoptive airline
Chengdu Airlines, an affiliate of C909 manufacturer Comac, has received a capital injection to help widen the jet’s international coverage
The state-owned Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China (Comac), manufacturer of the C909 regional airliner and the company’s flagship narrowbody C919, recently infused 634 million yuan (US$91.76 million) into C909 launch customer Chengdu Airlines, in which the planemaker has a 48 per cent controlling stake.
Combined with funding from other sources, the injection has nearly tripled Chengdu Airlines’ registered capital from 680 million yuan to 2 billion yuan, a move analysts viewed as laying the groundwork for more C909s to reach locales in Southeast Asia, Central Asia and Russia on commercial flights.
As the carrier seeks new international routes – and Comac looks to gain whatever advantage it can in its quest to compete with Western giants Boeing and Airbus – the C909 could aid in both goals, having already been added to a number of international routes and the fleets of overseas carriers.
Chengdu Airlines put out notices in recent months recruiting partners for new international routes using the C909, including service to Vladivostok and Khabarovsk in Russia and Osh in Kyrgyzstan.
The carrier has already employed the C909 for international routes within Asia. In June 2024, it launched the jet’s first service to Central Asia, linking Kashgar in western China’s Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region to Khujand, the second-largest city in Tajikistan.
As part of the lease agreement, the Chinese carrier provided crew, maintenance and safety support. That cooperation stopped in October, but VietJet reportedly agreed to renew the lease one month later.
Flying the C909 to more destinations is a good demonstration for other carriers in the region