US$50 billion Russian-Chinese joint venture to build passenger jet at risk as cracks appear in partnership
- The future of the CR-929 project appears increasingly uncertain as China looks to freeze Russia out of a share of the profits from its domestic market
- The Chinese side is also considering bringing in Western aviation companies as it looks to improve relations amid the ongoing war in Ukraine
The future of the largest aviation joint venture between China and Russia is looking bleak because of intensifying disagreements between the two over how they share the profits and the possible involvement of Western companies.
The Russians are unhappy because China wants to invite Western companies to take part in the US$50 billion project to develop a new passenger jet, known as the CR-929, according to two independent sources.
“One of the key reasons is that Beijing hopes the CR-929 passengerjet will meet Western airworthiness standards. The wide-bodied jet is designed to fly to the United States and Europe, so it would be better to choose some key components by sharing some orders with European and American manufacturers,” one source who is familiar with the matter said.
For example, Beijing wants to use an American or German undercarriage, while Russia insists on using its own, despite their poor safety record, the source continued.
The CR929-600 is a planned long-range, 280-seat passenger jet being developed by the Shanghai-based Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China and Russia’s United Aircraft Corporation.