C919
Overview
China's first domestically developed narrow-body single-aisle commercial airliner, designed to compete directly with the Airbus A320neo and Boeing 737 MAX. Powered by CFM International LEAP-1C engines with a domestic CJ-1000A engine in flight-test on a Y-20 testbed and now expected to enter daily C919 service around 2028-2029.
In commercial service since May 2023 with about 37 cumulative deliveries — China Eastern leads the fleet with 15, Air China with 11, and China Southern with 10. The 2026 ramp is well behind plan: only 5 C919s shipped through April 2026 versus the 33 Chinese airlines projected for the year, with labor shortages and LEAP-1C supply identified as bottlenecks. COMAC is also growing the C919 into a family: the plateau-optimized C919-600 (≈140-160 seats, Tibet Airlines launch customer with 40 orders) was spotted at Shanghai Pudong in January 2026 ahead of flight testing, and a stretched 200+ seat C919-800 is in joint development with China Eastern targeting 2030 service.