Members of EASA, the European civil aviation authority, are expected to visit the COMAC facility in Shanghai in July to examine the C919 jetliner amid the type certification process.
According to the South China Morning Post, agency officials will follow flight simulations and have meetings with the aircraft’s design team and the CAAC (Civil Aviation Administration of China), the Chinese regulator.
The Chinese government’s hope is to obtain EASA approval, which would open the door for future exports of the aircraft, a competitor to the Boeing 737 and Airbus A320.
Follow Air Data News: WhatsApp | Google News | Instagram | LinkedIn | Twitter | Facebook
Currently just six C919s are in service, all with China Eatern Airlines, where it debuted just over a year ago.
But COMAC is preparing to expand the production rate in order to handle at least 300 orders from CEA and also from Air China and China Southern Airlines, the country’s largest carriers.
Type certification with no known deadline
According to people familiar with the matter contacted by the outlet, the expectation is that the type certification will be issued between the end of the year and the beginning of 2025.
But there are those who believe it is too early to believe that the C919 will get European approval, as Luc Tytgat, interim executive director of EASA, told Reuters in March.
The C919 was developed depending on many Western components, including the CFM Leap 1 turbofan. But there are indigenous projects being undertaken to reduce this dependence.
If EASA approval seems a matter of time, type certification by the US FAA is uncertain.
China and the United States have imposed sanctions on companies from both countries and Boeing has been “punished” with delays in deliveries of its jets. Furthermore, Chinese airlines have not placed orders for US planes for a long time.
