Regional Chinese Jet Set for Takeoff With First Deliveries to Big Three Domestic Airlines

China’s big three state-owned airlines have received their first batch of large domestically-made commercial jets, marking the nation’s latest step to tap into a lucrative global aircraft market now dominated by a handful of foreign players.

Commercial Aircraft Corp. of China Ltd. (Comac) said on Sunday that it has delivered three medium- to short-haul ARJ21 commercial jets, one each to Air China, China Eastern Airlines and China Southern Airlines, and would send another two to each of the carriers by year-end.

The ARJ21 commercial jet, which has 90 seats, is the first regional aircraft designed and manufactured fully in China. The model conducted its first domestic flight in 2016 and made its first test flight on an international air route two years later.

The big three airlines each purchased 35 of the regional jets from Comac last year. China Eastern launched a subsidiary earlier in the year to run only China-made aircraft, which at present will include the ARJ21 series as well as the C919, a narrow-body single-aisle airliner also made by Comac that is now in flight testing with capacity for up to 168 passengers.

Comac has taken orders for 596 ARJ21 aircraft and 815 C919 as of last month, according to Comac and a news outlet connected to China’s aviation regulator. The ARJ21 has been deemed airworthy in China, but has yet to receive a similar certificate from any Western countries.

China is seeking to utilize its vast route network and domestic market to get a slice of the lucrative global industry for big commercial aircraft. That industry is currently dominated by Boeing and Airbus for the largest planes, with names like Canada’s Bombardier and Brazil’s Embraer as major providers of smaller planes like the ARJ21.

Western airlines are generally reluctant to buy planes from unknown manufacturers like Comac whose products have not been proven in the global market. China is hoping to leverage its large domestic market as a proving ground for such planes, in hopes of eventually attracting buyers from more price-sensitive developing markets and eventually from developed markets as well.

“China-made planes have to be deployed by Chinese airlines first,” said Liu Gongshi, a senior adviser at the China Air Transport Association. “It’s still kind of a political task, but promoting domestic planes can not only prop up China’s aviation industry but also help the development of related industries.”

This story has been corrected to clarify that the delivery was the first to China’s big three state airlines.

Contact reporter Lu Yutong (yutonglu@caixin.com) and editor Yang Ge (geyang@caixin.com)