On 2 November 2015, China’s first C919 twin-engine narrow-body passenger jetliner rolled out of the production line in a ceremony attended by some 4,000 government officials and VIP guests at COMAC’s manufacturing plant Shanghai. Many hailed this as the major milestone in China’s multibillion-dollar effort to break into the commercial jetliner market, believing that the country will soon be able to compete with market leaders such as Boeing and Airbus.
By David Xia
On 2 November 2015, China’s first C919
twin-engine narrow-body passenger jetliner rolled out of the production line in
a ceremony attended by some 4,000 government officials and VIP guests at
COMAC’s manufacturing plant Shanghai. Many hailed this as the major milestone
in China’s multibillion-dollar effort to break into the commercial jetliner
market, believing that the country will soon be able to compete with market
leaders such as Boeing and Airbus. Others may hold a different view based on the
fact that most of the aircraft’s parts and sub-systems were outsourced to
Western suppliers—from engines to landing gears, to avionics.
It is no
secret that China has been longing for its own indigenous passenger jetliner
for some time, but very rarely examined is the the country’s (troubled) history
in its attempt to produce such a plane. Over the past three decades, China’s
passenger jet programme has been entangled with the shift between indigenous
development and foreign cooperation, internal competition between Chinese
aircraft manufacturers, and a fast changing market. Understanding these issues
will help understand how China ended up with the C919, and what the future
holds for China’s latest venture in this lucrative but notoriously competitive
market.
Image Attribute : C919 in the
rolling out ceremony in November 2015 / Source: Sinodefence.com
Independent
Development vs. Co-development with the West
China’s
attempt to produce a modern passenger jetliner dates back to the Y-10 programme
in the 1970s. The Y-10 is a four-engine narrow-body jetliner produced by the
Shanghai Aircraft Factory (now Shanghai Aircraft Manufacturing Co. Ltd., SAMC),
based on the U.S. Boeing 707. Development of the aircraft began in 1970 but
only made breakthrough after the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC)
acquired a small fleet of the Boeing 707 from the U.S. in 1972. As part of the
purchase package China obtained some spare Pratt & Whitney JT3D-7 turbofan
engines, which were fitted on the Y-10 to support its flight testing.
Three Y-10
prototypes were produced, with prototype No.2 making the first flight
successfully on 26 September 1980. Over the next five years, the aircraft was tested
in 130 flights totalling 170 hours of flying time. However, by this time debate
over the aircraft’s commercial viability had surfaced. CAAC’s refusal to place
any order for the aircraft due to its ageing design, along with political
reasons, finally killed off the Y-10 project.
Image Attribute: Shanhai Y-10 was
China’s first attempt to produce a modern passenger jetliner /
Source: Sinodefence.com
As China began
to embrace trade with the West in the 1980s, the Chinese aviation industry was
told by the political leadership to abandon indigenous development effort and
turn to Western manufacturers for knowledge and experience through
co-operations. The most high-profile co-operation project at the time was the
licensed production of 35 McDonnell Douglas MD-82/83 regional jets at SAIC
using U.S.-supplied kits between 1986 and 2000. SAIC also sought a joint
development of the improved MD-90-30 jetliner with McDonnell Douglas, but the
programme was cancelled after McDonnell Douglas was merged into Boeing in the
late 1990s.
Image Attribute: Shanghai
Aircraft Industrial Company assembled 35 MD-82/83s in the 1980’s-90’s Source: SinoDefence,com
In the late
1980s, the Chinese aviation industry sought to jointly develop a regional jet
named MPC 75 with German company “Deutsche Airbus”, the German branch of the
European Airbus consortium, with each side bearing 50% of the total development
cost. The aircraft was originally envisioned as a 60—80 seats twin-engine
passenger aircraft with two open rotor propfan engines and a T-tail, but later
evolved into a conventional layout 100-seat twin-engine narrow body passenger
jetliner designated MPC 75-100. The development was eventually abandoned in the
1990s due to the restructuring of the Airbus consortium and the introduction of
the Airbus A318/319, but the Chinese aviation industry gained considerable
knowledge through the programme and later utilised on the development of its
own ARJ21 regional jetliner.
Image Attribute: The original
MPC 75 design / Source: SinoDefence.com
Another
programme at the time was the AirExpress AE-100 regional passenger jet, which
was proposed by a three-way joint venture between Aviation Industries of China
(AVIC), Singapore Technologies, and Boeing. Once again the project went into
trouble before the development had even started. Boeing preferred to limit the
top end of the AE-100 family to 125 seats to avoid competition with its own
Boeing 737-600, whereas the Chinese partner wanted to develop a family of three
aircraft, up to and including a stretched 140-seat version. In 1996 Boeing
announced its decision to withdraw from the programme, effectively ending the
partnership.
Following a
string of ill-fated attempts, the Chinese political leadership finally realised
that cooperation with Western partners to develop a Chinese passenger jet was a
pie in the sky, as ultimately neither Airbus nor Boeing would want to support a
potential competitor in the market where they enjoyed a duopoly. At the turn of
the century, the Chinese government took the decision to go back to the
independent development approach in pursuing China’s own passenger jetliner,
with some of its subsystems sourced from Western contractors to lower technical
barrier and reduce development time. The decision led to the launch of the
ARJ21 regional jet programme and the creation of AVIC I Commercial Aircraft
Company (ACAC) in Shanghai in 2002.
Internal
Dispute
The Chinese
aviation industry consists of dozens of design institutes, aircraft
manufacturers, aero engine manufacturers, as well as hundreds of suppliers, all
grouped into the Aviation Industry Corporation of China (AVIC) consortium.
Among these two companies have been competing furiously for the leading role in
China’s passenger jetliner effort – the Xi’an Aircraft Company (XAC) and the
Shanghai Aviation Industrial Company (SAIC, now known as SAMC).
XAC was first
established in 1958 as the Xi’an Aircraft Factor to build the H-6 medium
bomber, a Chinese licensed copy of the Russian Tu-16 (‘Badger’). Later in the
late 1970s the company began to produce Y-7, a Chinese copy of the Russian
An-24 ‘Coke’ turboprop passenger/cargo plane. In the 1980s, XAC teamed up with
a Hong Kong-based company to modernise the Y-7 aircraft with new cabin interior
and modern avionics soured from Western providers. The resulted 52-seat Y-7-100
became the first Chinese-built passenger aircraft to serve in the Chinese civil
aviation passenger fleet, with over 50 examples delivered to Chinese airlines
and more exported to foreign countries.
Image Attribute: Lao Airlines MA-60 Hanuise
XAC gained
considerable experience in passenger aircraft through its Y-7 family, including
the latest variant MA-60 / Source: SinoDefence.com
In contrast,
the SAIC has a much humbler history, beginning its life in the 1950s as an
aircraft repairing factory (5703 Factory). In the 1970s, the factory was chosen
as the developer of the Y-10 passenger jetliner – a seemingly completely
illogical decision since there were several more established and experienced
aircraft manufacturers in China. However, the move was driven by political
calculation – the ‘Gang of Four’, a rising political fraction within the
Chinese Communist Party during the so-called ‘Great Cultural Revolution’ in the
1960s—70s, wanted to consolidate their powerbase in Shanghai by assigning key
scientific and industrial projects to firms located there.
Through the
development of the Y-10, SAIC gained some know-how in developing and building a
modern passenger jet. Their experience further expanded through the licensed
assembly of the McDonnell Douglas MD-82/83 regional jetliner in the 1980s—90s.
By the late 1990s SAIC had emerged as a leading aviation enterprise with
considerable capability and experience in building modern passenger airliners.
The rise of SAIC created great tension with XAC in their competition for the
leading role in China’s attempt to develop its own passenger jet. Both
companies extensively lobbied the political leadership and the management of
the AVIC for a decision in their favour, which further delayed the entire
programme.
Following
China’s decision to seek an indigenously developed passenger jet, in September
2002, AVIC I and 15 other state-owned enterprises formed AVIC I Commercial
Aircraft Company (ACAC), a commercial joint venture headquartered in Shanghai
whose primary role was to develop and build commercial passenger jetliners.
While the decision effectively chose SAIC as the primary contractor for China’s
future jetliner, XAC and its associated 603 Aircraft Design Institute were also
involved as major stakeholders of the joint venture.
Dispute
between XAC and SAIC was a feature throughout the ARJ21 programme. While SAIC
wished to develop a 70—90 seats regional jetliner loosely based the MD-82
design, benefiting from its experience and existing tooling obtained from the
licensed assembly of the aircraft, XAC wanted a larger Boeing 737/Airbus A320
class design for trunk routes. In order to erase these disputes, in June 2003
AVIC merged the design arm of the two companies, the Xi’an-based 603 Aircraft
Design Institute and the Shanghai-based 640 Aircraft Design Institute, into the
First Aircraft Institute (FAI). However, despite the effort the dispute between
the two companies continued. The internal disagreement, coupled with technical
difficulties, caused significant delay in the ARJ21 development. ACAC
originally announced in 2004 that the ARJ21-700 would make its first flight in
2007, but the aircraft did not fly until December 2008.
Image Attribute: ARJ21 is the
first Chinese independently developed passenger jet /
Source: SinoDefence.com
Regional vs.
Trunk Route
A third
element that has heavily influenced China’s effort to develop a modern
passenger jetliner was the requirement definition. China’s civil aviation
authority originally predicted that by 2010 the country would require 900
regional jets – short to medium-range passenger aircraft with under 100 seats.
However, it turned out that such prediction was far to conservative. China’s
booming economy in the early 21st century led to a significant increase in air
passenger numbers. Many short-haul intercity routes originally categorised as
‘regional’ now require larger aircraft to fulfil the rapidly growing passenger
numbers.
The Chinese
aviation industry soon realised that the ARJ21 would not receive as many orders
as originally hoped due to the changing market condition, and a larger trunk
route aircraft was required. In response, AVIC launched its C919, a 150-seat
class passenger jetliner that could be in the same class as the Boeing 737 and
Airbus A320. in May 2008 AVIC formed Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China
(COMAC) as the primary contractor for the C919. The company incorporated ACAC
and its ARJ21-700 programme. As part of the restructure, SAIC was also
incorporated into COMAC to become Shanghai Aircraft Manufacturing Co. Ltd.
(SAMC), which would serve as the primary production facility for the C919.
Compared with
ARJ21, the C919 programme progressed more smoothly. Development of the aircraft
began around 2009 and the joint definition phase (JDP) officially concluded in
November 2011. COMAC originally hoped that the aircraft would make its maiden
flight in 2015, with the delivery beginning in 2016. However, various technical
issues led to the maiden flight postponed to 2016 and the first delivery won’t
take place until 2018.
Image Attribute: C919 Flight Deck / Source: SinoDefence.com
According to
COMAC, design and assembly of the aircraft is done at the Shanghai Aircraft
Manufacturing Co. Ltd., using foreign made turbofan engines (CFM International
LEAP-1C) and avionics. The centre wing box, outer wing box, wing panels, flaps
and ailerons are to be built at Xi’an Aircraft Company (XAC). The centre
fuselage sections are planned to be built by the Nanchang-based Hongdu Aviation
Industry Group (HAIG). Once the aircraft is in full production, a second
assembly line will be built at HAIG. China is also in development of a turbofan
engine which could be fitted on future C919 models.
Furthermore,
COMAC does not intend to stop at C919. It has already proposed an even larger
aircraft designated C929, a twin-engine wide-body jetliner in the same class as
the Boeing 777, to be jointly developed with Russia.
Even after the
C919 has made its first flight, which is currently scheduled in 2016, there
will still be many hurdles for China to jump before it can truly compete with
Boeing and Airbus in the international market. It will not be easy, as both
companies are introducing their new generation short-haul airliners, the Boeing
737 MAX and A320neo. However, after a three-decade struggle, China seems to
have finally found a suitable route for developing its own indigenous passenger
jet.
About The Author:
David Xia (L-1240-2015), SinoDefence.com. All Rights are Reserved by the
Author / All Images are sourced from www.sinodefence.com and other open-source
platforms.
Citation:
Xia, David.
"C919 : China’s Long March to the ‘Big Jet Club’ by David Xia." SinoDefence.com , IndraStra 1, no. 12 (2015): 0536.
https://www.indrastra.com/2015/11/2015/12/FEATURED-C919-Chinas-Long-March-to-Big-Jet-Club-0536.html.
ISSN 2381-3652