In the Bourget International Aerospace Salon, which opened its doors on Monday north of Paris, the Commercial Company of the Chinese Aircraft Corporation (Cate) has models of its airplanes, including the C919, the largest passenger transport plane produced in China.
This monocorloir is a potential competitor of the Airbus A320, the best plane sold in the world, and 737 Max in Boeing, manufacturer of airplanes in agitation after several fatal accidents, the last of which occurred last week in India.
“A third actor”
With the high demand of airlines for intermediate emails, the C919 could benefit from a favorable breathing, it estimates that Florian Aknin, which especially covers the aeronautical sector within the Roland Berger company.
Under these conditions, “having a third actor brings a real solution to airlines that have quite urgent needs,” he said.
However, if the C919 makes commercial flights in China since May 2024, its arrival to asphalt around the world will not be immediate, the specialists warned by AFP.
Various difficulties before being able to deploy
In the job of Comac, in Le Bourget, it is indicated that to date, 20 C919 aircraft have been delivered in total. By way of comparison, Airbus produces about 45 A320 aircraft per month, while US authorities limited the production of Boeing 737 Max to 38 per month after an incident in 2024 aboard an Airlines in Alaska Airlines plane, which had lost a fuselage panel in flight.
Comac faces several difficulties. First it must be certified by the various global authorities, a relatively long process. This could take three to six years, he recently told the Executive Director of the European Aviation Security Agency (AESA), Florian Guillermet, in an interview with the Tribune.
The C919 must also have adequate logistics. “When an airline chooses a type of device for part of its fleet, this requires that all drivers and navigious staff be qualified in this type of device,” said Florian Aknin.
Therefore, a complete ecosystem is needed, composed of land personnel to keep the fleet, the spare parts available, which takes years to build.
A very dependent production chain
Finally, Cabac depends largely on the foreigner in technological matters, which makes it sensitive to geopolitical questions. According to an article at the New York Times published at the end of May, Washington suspended the sale to the Chinese aircraft manufacturer of certain products and technologies.
According to Pascal Fabre, Alixparters partner and a specialist in the aerospace sector, COMAC depends a lot on Western suppliers. These are “50 to 70% dependence, whether direct, supply by western, or indirect suppliers, with stamps between a western supplier and a Chinese player,” he explains. “This is the case of Planic, of landing trains …”, Abunda Remy Bonnery, expert in sector at Archerty Strategy Consulting.
However, if this specialist does not see Comc Competing Boeing and Airbus in the immediate future, “the company learns to structure its subcontracting chain and make a river increase in an object as complex as a line, with several million parts to integrate to be able to make the plane.”
Source: BFM TV
