The first orders for the Comac C919 airline total no more than 55, a surprisingly small figure that includes a mere five for each of China’s big state airlines.
China Southern, Air China and China Eastern will also take options on only 15 each—suggesting an extraordinarily low degree of commitment to a project on which China is pinning its future as a commercial aircraft builder.
The biggest initial customer will be Hainan Airlines, which signed a letter of intent to order 20 C919s, with none under option. GE Commercial Aviation Services (Gecas) agreed to order 10 while CDB Leasing, an arm Comac financier China Development Bank, signed for 10. It is not clear how many of CDB’s aircraft will be ordered and how many covered by options.
The total of 100 orders and options and the breakdown between customers match expectations. But all 100 aircraft were expected to have been firm.
In its announcement at the air show, Comac described the deals with all six customers as “orders”, leading to widespread news reporting of the inflated figure.
Executives at the customer companies confirmed the actual details to Aviation Week. For its ARJ21 regional jet, Comac likewise cites an order book inflated by options, possibly due to a mistake in translation.
CFM International, the supplier of the C919’s Leap-X1C engine, expects Comac eventually to sell more than 1,000 C919s, the first of which is due for delivery in 2016.
“We hope they sell 3,000 airplanes,” adds Chaker Chahrour, executive vice president of the joint venture of General Electric and Snecma.
The Gecas order is important particularly because it will help ensure U.S. Federal Aviation Administration support for the certification process. The aircraft will need FAA validation of its Chinese certification if it is to get orders from airlines in developed economies.
The deals are not launch orders. The program was launched in 2008 without orders.
The Industrial and Commercial Bank of China is also negotiating to order C919s, industry executives say.
Bradley Perrett
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