China's First C919 Passenger Jetliner to Compete with Boeing's 737 and Airbus A320

China's first locally made prototype passenger jetliner, C919 revealed to be the state's hope to challenge leading airline companies, Boeing's 737 and Airbus A320. The communist state scheduled the latest prototype aircraft's first flight in 2016.

According to The Record, the Commercial Aircraft Corp. of China held the inauguration ceremony of the state's first passenger jet, the C919 aircraft on Monday at the company's manufacturing and assembly centre in Pudong, near Shanghai's main airport. The aircraft appeared from the red curtains and is welcomed by a large crowd of attendees who applauded. The head of China's civil aviation administration, Li Jiaxiang said in a speech, "The air transportation industry of China cannot completely rely on imports. A great nation must have its own large commercial aircraft."

Though, China also has the biggest aviation markets however, the state still depends on Boeing and Airbus aircraft. According to Yahoo News, with the multibillion-dollar effort to produce the first homegrown twin-engine planes C919, it also aimed to recover some of the commercial benefits that flow to foreign suppliers. The Asia air transport editor for Flight global magazine, Mavis Toh said, "It's a major push for the country, as they want to be known as a major player" in airplane manufacturing.

The C919 has the seat capacity for 168 passengers and is aimed to compete in the aviation market with the leading single-aisle jets, Airbus's A320 and Boeing's 737, the SCMP reported. The manufacturer, COMAC also said they already received purchasing orders from 21 customers for a total of 517 aircraft.

An industry consultant and the vice president for analysis of Teal Group, Richard Aboulafia praised China's new achievement, "China offers a terrific market, superb engineering talent and reasonably low costs. Developing a national aircraft industry makes a lot of sense." The C919 is set to fly on 2016 and will have its official flight service in 2019.