COMAC has confirmed the rebranding of the ARJ21 regional jet, which will now be referred to as C909, as revealed by ADN on October 13.
The change, announced at Airshow China 2024 in Zhuhai, is in line with the new strategy of the Chinese aircraft manufacturer, which has unified the nomenclature of its products under the “COMAC+” standard.
The C909 is the first commercial aircraft developed in China in many years, after the failure of the Shanghai Y-10.
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The jet with up to 90 seats was launched in 2002, but the first prototype only flew for the first time in November 2008.
The aircraft is based on the McDonnell Douglas MD-95, although it incorporates a new front section and is equipped with GE CF-34 engines.
The first aircraft only entered service in June 2016 with Chengdu Airlines. Since then, COMAC has delivered 150 aircraft and the delivery rate has increased in recent years as the assembly line has been improved.
Advanced Regional Jet
The name change was expected since the announcement of the C919, a narrow-body commercial jet, and the C929, the Chinese planemaker’s first widebody.
The term ARJ stands for Advanced Regional Jet and was expected to launch more variants, in addition to the current ARJ21-700. But COMAC seems more focused on serving the market above 160 seats, where the greatest demand is in China.
For now, the C909 has only one foreign customer, Indonesia’s TransNusa, which flies two of the planes. COMAC announced more orders for the aircraft during the show. HNA Group has secured a deal for 40 C909s in addition to 60 C919s, while Guizhou Airlines has signed an order for 30 of the type.
