In the latest China Future Tech webinar, experts discuss questions surrounding home-grown Chinese passenger jet
The C919, China’s first indigenous narrowbody jet, embodies Beijing’s progress in pursuing technology self-sufficiency and holds the potential to reshape the global aviation market, but it faces a host of difficulties in challenging established giants Boeing and Airbus.
In the latest China Future Tech webinar, Jason Li Hanming, a US-based aviation analyst, along with SCMP reporters Frank Chen, William Zheng and moderator Ralph Jennings, discussed questions surrounding the home-grown Chinese passenger jet as the US global trade war adds to its challenges.
Comac had to be a system integrator in order to produce a commercially viable, practicable and reliable aircraft, said Li. Figuring out how to combine everything together is the first step that will allow more space for the country to put innovation into their aircraft, he said.
China’s high-speed railway was a “different story”, according to Li. For one, China Railway, as the sole decision maker, could push things forward quickly, especially as the country was building infrastructure from scratch. In aerospace, China is moving “inside a prebuilt system” involving many different stakeholders, he said.
