The commercial operation of domestic large aircraft has been fully accelerated: six C919 aircraft have been delivered on the first anniversary of its operation, and the company is planning to expand overseas markets

China Times

2024-05-30 08:33Posted on the official account of Beijing China Times

(Image source: China Eastern Airlines)

At 9:21 a.m. on May 28, a C919 single-aisle trunk passenger aircraft with registration number B-919G took off from Shanghai Pudong International Airport and flew to Shanghai Hongqiao International Airport at 9:37 a.m. on the same day, becoming the sixth aircraft of this type operated by China Eastern Airlines Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "China Eastern Airlines").

On the evening of May 27, the East China Administration of Civil Aviation issued a stand-alone airworthiness certificate, nationality registration certificate and radio station certificate to China Eastern Airlines, and the manufacturer, Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China (hereinafter referred to as "COMAC"), delivered the aircraft to China Eastern Airlines.

One year exam

Since its first commercial flight on May 28, 2023, China Eastern Airlines' C919 commercial operating fleet has achieved a breakthrough of "0 to 1". In the past year, it has reached the initial large-scale operation of 5 aircraft and multiple routes, achieving a breakthrough from "1 to 5"; With the delivery of the first 100 "big orders", a breakthrough from "6 to 100+" is being achieved. This also marks the overall acceleration of the commercial operation of the large-scale and large fleet of domestic large aircraft C919.

A year ago, the first C919 aircraft was officially put into commercial operation, the implementation of MU9191 flight, from Shanghai Hongqiao to Beijing Capital, successfully completed the world's first commercial passenger flight of the model, which also means that the "research and development, manufacturing, certification, operation" of domestic large passenger aircraft is fully connected, China's civil aviation commercial operation of domestic large aircraft officially "started", and the "air experience" of China's large aircraft entered the general public.

According to the data released by China Eastern Airlines, as of May 27, 2024, five C919 aircraft of China Eastern Airlines have carried out a total of 2,181 flights on the first day of flight and on the subsequent three routes of Shanghai Hongqiao-Chengdu Tianfu, Shanghai Hongqiao-Beijing Daxing and Shanghai Hongqiao-Xi'an Xianyang, with a total of 6,090 hours of commercial operation and nearly 300,000 passengers. The C919 has normal operation technology, good safe flight performance, steady improvement in daily utilization rate and other indicators, and comprehensive operation capability has been comprehensively tested.

It is worth mentioning that on June 1 this year, China Eastern Airlines will use the C919 large aircraft to operate the "Hong Kong-Shanghai" commercial charter flight, carrying Hong Kong university students from Hong Kong to Shanghai to participate in the "Shanghai-Hong Kong Concentric" exchange activities.

Previously, the C919 also carried out static display and demonstration flights in Hong Kong, and flew to Singapore for the first time to participate in overseas air shows earlier this year, during which a number of air shows were performed. After the end of the air show, COMAC continued to tour many countries in Southeast Asia with C919 and ARJ21 to seek potential market opportunities.

According to a professional who has participated in the R&D and manufacturing of C919 and the China Times, "for commercial aircraft, R&D and manufacturing is only the beginning of the life cycle of new models, just like a gestation process, and the real test is whether it can go through a long operation cycle after delivery, not only to be safe and reliable, but also to create benefits for airlines, which can really be called a success." ”

Just like any commercial aircraft, as a new model, the C919 also needs to be fully integrated into the civil aviation industry by fully cooperating with airlines. China Eastern Airlines revealed that in the initial operation stage of C919, China Eastern Airlines explored a set of operation support service processes for the whole link and whole process of C919 commercial operation around important work such as flight operation, continuous airworthiness, marketing services, and brand management, established a communication platform and continuous optimization mechanism with COMAC, carried out 8+X lean management projects, and achieved certain results in a number of optimization projects. For example, the new batch of C919 aircraft has been optimized and upgraded in terms of cockpit display and cabin entertainment system.

Combined with the successful experience after the official transition to normal operation, China Eastern Airlines has compiled an operation manual to provide reference and experience for other sister airlines in operating domestic large aircraft. China Eastern Airlines has established the "C919 Innovation Studio Alliance" to promote the innovation of C919 fleet management and technological innovation, and strive to achieve the goal of systematic fleet management, systematic C919 talent training, and enhance the commercial competitiveness of aircraft. At present, China Eastern Airlines has more than 60 C919 pilots, nearly 170 C919 flight attendants in 8 batches, trained more than 60 C919 maintenance personnel and more than 40 dispatchers, and completed 14,000 ground service support training for this model.

China Eastern Airlines revealed that since the C919 was put into commercial operation, more and more passengers have experienced and taken the domestic large aircraft, and the load factor of the C919 flight has maintained a good performance, with an average flight load factor of nearly 80%. According to the plan, China Eastern Airlines is expected to expand its C919 fleet to 10 aircraft within this year.

With the large-scale operation, more airlines will start receiving and operating the C919 aircraft this year. Not long ago, Air China Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Air China") and China Southern Airlines Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "China Southern Airlines") have announced orders for 100 C919s, and if you add the previous orders from Tibet Airlines Co., Ltd. and Suparna Airlines Co., Ltd., the current C919 confirmed order scale has exceeded 300 aircraft, and the total number of orders has exceeded 1,000 aircraft.

Capacity ramp-up

According to the news announced by China Southern Airlines at the previous performance meeting, its first C919 is expected to be delivered in August this year. According to a number of information from manufacturers and airlines, Air China's first C919 will also start deliveries within the year. If you add Suparna Airlines, which has officially announced that it will take over its first aircraft within the year, if all goes well, C919 will expand its user base from one to at least four this year.

Since the first delivery in December 2022, it took a year and a half for the C919 to reach the delivery of six aircraft, but if you look at the delivery plans after several airlines order, it is obvious that a large increase in production capacity is needed to complete the specified delivery target, "and it does not rule out the possibility that there will be other new users ordering and entering the delivery schedule, so the speed and quantity of manufacturing and delivery obviously need to significantly exceed the current level." A person close to COMAC told the China Times.

According to the delivery plans announced by China Eastern Airlines, Air China and China Southern Airlines, a total of 300 C919s purchased by the three airlines will be delivered in batches from 2024 to 2031. Of these, 5 are planned to be delivered in 2024, 10 per year from 2025 to 2027, 15 per year from 2028 to 2030, and 20 in 2031.

China Eastern Airlines has previously said that in the future, it may adjust the specific introduction time and model of the aircraft under the transaction according to market conditions and the company's capacity plan. According to a person in charge of the introduction of aircraft in a domestic airline in an exchange with a reporter from the China Times, the current announced delivery plan is only an ideal plan agreed between the manufacturer and the airline, which does not mean that it will be completed in full accordance with this pace, and there will be some unplanned factors in the middle that will affect the delivery plan, even mature manufacturers such as Boeing and Airbus will also face similar problems.

"This year's C919 production capacity target is to maintain 12 aircraft, and strive to reach 19 aircraft," a person close to COMAC told the "China Times" reporter on May 28, "At present, one of the factors affecting the increase in production capacity is still related to the supply chain, such as the low supply rate of small parts such as some sensors or wires, resulting in a certain degree of insufficient supply of accessories in the current inventory, which has an impact on the increase in production capacity." ”

According to another person familiar with the C919 manufacturing process, supply chain problems are not unique to COMAC, including Boeing and Airbus, which have also been troubled in recent years and have been forced to reduce production rates. "The C919, like other mainstream commercial aircraft, is supplied by many multinational suppliers, and although some key components have been promised by suppliers to 'guarantee supply', the lack of supply of many other seemingly inconspicuous spare parts is actually no less impactful on production capacity than those that seem to be 'more conspicuous'."

COMAC has also begun to build and plan more production facilities to meet the demand for future production capacity increases. According to the above-mentioned sources close to COMAC, a new C919 assembly line will be opened in Zhuqiao, Pudong next year. The news about the construction of a new assembly line for C919 outside Shanghai has also been circulating for a long time, and has aroused the interest of many cities in China, hoping to win the settlement of this project.

In addition to the progress of domestic airline customers and manufacturing, the C919 also has some new moves in seeking overseas markets. For example, Tony Fernandes, founder of AirAsia Group, Asia's largest low-cost airline, visited COMAC this year and said through his social media that "I recently visited COMAC and was shocked by what they have achieved." It is not easy to build an aircraft. I have no doubt that we now have a third option. In addition, Vietnam's Vietjet Air and others also visited COMAC.

According to Saudi Arabian media reports, Saudi Arabia's flag carrier Saudi Arabian Airlines Group "is learning about the specifications and performance of the C919" and plans to visit COMAC's Shanghai factory this year.

According to local media reports, although the Saudi Arabian group made it clear that "everything is still in the discussion stage and no decision has been made," at least Saudi Arabia has expressed interest in the C919 and has also provided an option for "COMAC to establish an aircraft assembly line in Jeddah," according to local media reports. In their reports, local media quoted a Saudi Airlines spokesperson as saying that "we see the seriousness of producing reliable aircraft, as well as the interest of manufacturers in the region".

According to the aforementioned source close to COMAC, "the company has developed a grand blueprint, and regions such as the Middle East and Africa will be important regions, and there are also ideas to consider establishing production and delivery facilities overseas." ”

Editor-in-charge: Huang Xingli Editor-in-chief: Han Feng

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