Air TransportAsian airlines see COMAC C919 as an option to A320 and 737, but only from the 2030s
Asian airlines are beginning to view the COMAC C919 as a potential alternative to the Airbus A320 and Boeing 737 families, but most expect that option to become viable only in the 2030s, as the Chinese manufacturer continues to face structural and regulatory hurdles.
Interest in the C919 has increased as carriers across the region struggle with prolonged delivery delays from Airbus and Boeing, driven by engine shortages and persistent bottlenecks across global aerospace supply chains. Even so, airline executives say COMAC is still far from being a near-term solution for fleets outside China.
Cebu Pacific chief executive Mike Szucs said the aircraft could become attractive to his airline and others in the region later in the next decade, once certification and support frameworks mature, according to comments he made to the BBC.
Production scale remains a central limitation. In 2025, COMAC delivered 16 C919 aircraft, all to Chinese customers. To date, only 32 C919s are in active service, underscoring the gap between the program’s ambitions and its current industrial output.
Certification is another constraint. While the C919 is approved for domestic operations, COMAC is still pursuing validation from the European Union Aviation Safety Agency. The process has progressed slowly and is widely expected to extend into the latter part of the decade, restricting the aircraft’s access to most international markets in the meantime.
COMAC’s reliance on Western suppliers also complicates its expansion plans. The C919 depends on U.S. and European components for engines, avionics and flight-control systems, leaving the program exposed to trade tensions and tariff disputes between China and the United States, which have added uncertainty to long-term production and export planning.
Delivery trends on COMAC’s other programs point to similar challenges. The C909, formerly known as the ARJ21-700 and the manufacturer’s first commercial aircraft, saw deliveries fall to 21 units in 2025, down from 37 aircraft in 2024. The 90-seat regional jet has been in service for several years but has struggled to achieve sustained production growth.
For now, Asian airlines see COMAC less as an immediate challenger to Airbus and Boeing and more as a long-term diversification option. If certification progresses, supply chain risks ease and production ramps up, the C919 could begin to feature in regional fleet plans in the 2030s rather than the current decade.
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Ricardo Meier
Creator of the website that started in 1996 as a magazine. He also writes on Brazilian websites AUTOO, MOTOO and MetrôCPTM.
