COMAC to Capture Third of Market with C919s

COMAC continues to develop the C919. The company is preparing to enter the global arena of narrow-body aviation. The holding plans to cover 20% of the global market and a third of the Chinese segment by 2035.


The management of the concern also approved the production plan for the airliner for the next 20 years. During this period, 1209 units of the C919 model will be manufactured at industrial sites in Shanghai. Of these, 687 units of the standard modification and 522 of the extended modification are expected to be manufactured.

During the previous reporting period, the holding produced only 9 airliners, but this year it expects to assemble 30 units. From 2026, the Chinese company has set a goal of producing 50 aircraft.


The Chinese concern continues to strengthen its position in the domestic market. Large local companies are actively forming orders for the new C919. According to the already approved contracts, by 2031 each of the following companies will receive at least 100 aircraft:

✅ China Southern
✅ China Eastern
✅ Air China

There are currently only 16 C919s in service. The vast majority of them serve flights within China, but some are already used for air traffic to and from the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region.

COMAC's strategy includes not only increasing production volumes, but also entering the international market. To do this, the promising airliner will have to undergo certification by foreign aviation regulators.

After completing all formal procedures, the holding will begin competing with Boeing and Airbus on the global "arena". In particular, the B737 and A320/321 models from the first and second companies, respectively, are considered direct analogues.

Reaching such a significant volume of output is only possible through expansion of production capacity. The corporation's management has already begun modernizing its Shanghai enterprises.

The C919 airliner is being created using modern materials. For example, the share of composites in the aircraft's structure is 12%, while aluminum-lithium alloys are used in 9% of the parts.


The latter form the basis of the airframe. Initially, it was expected that the center section would be made of composites. However, this idea was abandoned during the design process.

Despite the ambitiousness of its plans, the holding company remains dependent on components from the USA, Germany and France. It is possible that if it enters the global market, the brand may have disagreements or other difficulties with foreign partners.

Let us recall that at the moment COMAC is not only working on the C919, but is also developing the wide-body C929 aircraft. The airliner is at the stage of preliminary design and selection of raw material suppliers. In the near future, a transition to more detailed development is expected.