China’s 737 challenger ‘too new’ for Europe to approve by 2026

However COMAC could also be getting a actuality examine on hopes to rapidly break into the market and make the most of Boeing’s safety troubles.

In an interview with Reuters, the European Union Aviation Security Company’s (EASA) high official mentioned the airplane is “too new for us to know how easy or difficult it will be” to certify rapidly. (The EASA is the EU’s air security regulator.)

COMAC initially bid for European approval of the C919 in 2019, just for plans to be placed on maintain as a result of COVID pandemic, Luc Tytgat, appearing government director of EASA, defined. COMAC then restarted its bid for European approval of the C919 final November, and requested for the work to be accomplished by 2026.

“It will be a big work to reconnect and go for a familiarization with what the plane looks like today,” he defined.

The C919 received the kind certificates—the de facto customary for world aviation security—from the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) in September 2022 and an approval for manufacturing in November the identical yr.

China Japanese Airways has operated the C919 in China since Might 2023 and COMAC additionally took the plane on a promotional tour via 5 Southeast Asian nations this yr.

Airways are at present dealing with a shortage of planes, compounded by Boeing’s recent safety issues. Planemakers are nonetheless grappling with provide chain points brought on by the COVID pandemic. Worldwide Air Transport Affiliation director-general Willie Walsh said in February that manufacturing will stay snarled for “a few more years.”

Better regulatory scrutiny on Boeing’s manufacturing course of following the mid-air blowout of a door plug on a Boeing 737 MAX 9 airplane in January may even imply fewer Boeing planes available on the market. United Airlines, Southwest Airlines, Emirates and Ryanair are among the many carriers warning of supply delays.

The C919 should be licensed by U.S. and European aviation regulators earlier than it may well function commercially in Western markets. It’d take some time, regardless of China having bilateral aviation security agreements with each Europe and the U.S. The COMAC-made ARJ21, a regional jet, has been in industrial use since 2016, however has but to obtain certification from the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration. (The ARJ21 solely has one non-Chinese customer, the Indonesian airline TransNusa)

For now, neither Boeing nor Airbus—the present duopoly controlling the market—see the C919 as a risk within the short-term. Executives from each planemakers informed CNBC in February that they see COMAC’s providing as just like what’s already available on the market.

European carriers, for his or her half, don’t look like determined for a brand new airplane. No European airline has requested the EASA to hurry up approval of the C919 to allow them to place orders, Tytgat revealed to Reuters.