China’s first giant passenger jet makes successful takeoff in maiden flight

[ashok321]

China’s first giant passenger jet makes successful takeoff in maiden flight
Sophia Yan

The maiden test flight of the C919 airliner made a successful takeoff from Shanghai Pudong International Airport on Friday, according to a livestream via Twitter carried on China's official news agency Xinhua.

The plane's flight path and flying time are not yet known, but a large crowd has gathered at the airport waiting for the landing.

The C919 has more than 150 seats and a range of 4,075 kilometers (2,532 miles), and is meant to compete with the Airbus A320 and Boeing 737, among the most popular commercial planes flying in the skies.

Commercial Aircraft Corp. of China, the state-owned company behind the plane, said 21 customers had placed orders for more than 500 planes by the end of 2016, and it expected sales to exceed 2,000, state media said.

China is making a big push to become a global aviation player, looking to compete with the likes of Airbus and Boeing. Establishing itself in this industry has been hailed a "strategic move" by President Xi Jinping, according to written remarks published by state media outlets. Beijing has also identified domestic development and production of engines and planes as a major goal.

Friday's maiden flight will be a key milestone for the C919, which has been plagued by delays. Final ground tests only concluded a few weeks ago, much later than the original schedule of a first flight in 2014, and aircraft delivery in 2016.

Still, it will still be a while before travelers can board the plane – the C919 still needs to undergo other safety and certification checks.

China is expected to beat the U.S. as the world's largest aviation market by 2024, according to the International Air Transport Association. And it's going to be big business for a range of sectors, from tourism to airplane makers as the country's airlines buy more planes and add more routes.

Boeing has estimated that China will need to buy up $1 trillion worth of planes – about 6,810 sets of wings – over the next two decades in order to meet demand.

http://www.cnbc.com/2017/05/04/chin...-is-slated-for-maiden-test-flight-friday.html

This is lot of money that India too would have to fork out.
While the Chinese have their own home grown commercial jetliner, India still relies on Import.
Too bad.

 

[Hamartia Antidote]

Well done Chinese friends, now world will be able to get afforadble aircraft and break the monopoly of Boing and Airbus.

They aren't the only ones:

Japan is already in certification for their new passenger jet.

 

[Aasimkhan]

They aren't the only ones:

Japan is already in certification for their new passenger jet.

japan is too late now, they will not be able to compete the Chinese neither in quantum of sales nor in prices. If Japan was to make a passenger plane they should have done it in early 70s but alas they were busy making cars then.

 

[Hamartia Antidote]

japan is too late now, they will not be able to compete the Chinese neither in quantum of sales nor in prices. If Japan was to make a passenger plane they should have done it in early 70s but alas they were busy making cars then.

Well they actually did back in the 1960's and 1970's but it didn't sell well.

 

[dreamer4eva]

japan is too late now, they will not be able to compete the Chinese neither in quantum of sales nor in prices. If Japan was to make a passenger plane they should have done it in early 70s but alas they were busy making cars then.

Chinese have one big advantage which Japan did not have. They have big domestic market, it does not matter if not even a single jet is exported, the size of local market would be good enough to keep em going. Wider body jets market will still be dominated by big two for foreseeable future, and will get all the help from governments by manipulating the flying certifications for new entrants such as China.

 

[my2cents]

Great achievement and a testament for their hard work and dedication. Boeing and Euro Airbus are very slow in fulfilling their orders. It would be interesting if China will be able to scale up their production to meet world demand.