At the Zhuhai Airshow which kicked off on Tuesday, the new Chinese model COMAC closed the sale of 300 C919 and 30 ARJ21 jets to several lessors, according to Yicai Global news agency.
The two Chinese commercial jets are on display at the country’s biggest aerospace event, which takes place this year after being canceled in 2021 due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
According to the China Daily newspaper, the orders for the aircraft, which is to compete with Airbus A320 and Boeing 737, come from seven Chinese leasing companies which include, the China Development Bank Financial Leasing, ICBC Financial Leasing, CCB Financial Leasing, Bank of Communications Financial Leasing, CMB Financial Leasing, SPDB Financial Leasing and Jiangsu Financial Leasing.
Just weeks ago, the 168-seat aircraft received the type certificate from CAAC, China’s civil aviation authority, paving the way for the first production C919 to be delivered to China Eastern Airlines in December.
Unlike companies like Boeing and Airbus, which detail firm orders, options and letters of intent, COMAC is unclear about its order backlog. The Shanghai-based company says it only has 815 orders from 28 customers for the C919 and 616 orders from 23 customers for the ARJ21 – not counting the 330 new orders.
With the new agreements, the C919 would reach 1,115 orders and the ARJ21, 946 aircraft on order.
