Delivery of the Chinese Domestic Airliner C919 will be Delayed

The delivery date for China’s first domestically produced airliner, the C919, will be delayed until 2018 in yet another setback on China’s road toward developing a domestic aviation industry.

China’s C919 airliner, developed by the Commercial Aircraft Corp. of China Ltd., is aimed to challenge Airbus and Boeing in the aviation industry. However, due to the various difficulties in preliminary design, the manufacture had to adjust the production schedule of its 150-seat narrow-body aircraft.

According to the original plan, the C919 was to make its maiden flight in 2014 with delivery starting in 2016. So far, Commercial Aircraft Corp. of China Ltd. Has received a total order of 400 airplanes from 16 customers, most of which are Chinese airline companies and aircraft leasing enterprises. GE Capital Aviation Services is the only foreign buyer, with 20 airplanes on order.

Commercial Aircraft Corp. of China Ltd. has not announced the airplane’s cost. In 2010, they released a physical model of the 150-seat airplane, though so far no actual prototype has been built.