C919 IN INTENSIVE TESTS
China keeps the world's second-largest civil aviation market with sustained air traffic demand and expanding market size. Trunk airliner models of C919 and CR929 projects are also on track.
In 2020, the C919 narrowbody aircraft project will experience intensive flight tests with all six test aircraft for various tasks in four sites around China, said the Commercial Aircraft Corp. of China (COMAC).
The twin-engine C919 is China's first independently-developed trunk aircraft. With the project started in 2008, the C919 airplane conducted a successful maiden flight on May 5, 2017.
On Dec. 27, 2019, the sixth test plane of the C919 project completed its maiden flight, representing that all airplanes carrying out the flight test missions were in place.
Meanwhile, all tests and verification work of the C919 were also ongoing. Parts productions had started, and orders for major systems had been issued, said the COMAC.
The China-Russia joint CR929 wide-body passenger aircraft project has entered the detailed design phase, said the COMAC, which represents the Chinese part of the project.
Intensive new moves of all members of the Chinese major civil aircraft models echo the country's strengthened servicing capacity and global competence in the civil aviation sector.
In 2019, China's civil aviation sector generated the revenue up 5.4 percent to 1.06 trillion yuan (about 155 billion U.S. dollars).
China is expected to become the world's largest aviation market by the mid-2020s, according to forecasts by the International Air Transport Association. Enditem
