Christian Scherer, chief executive of the Commercial Aircraft Group of European aircraft manufacturer Airbus, is keeping a close eye on COMAC's C919 aircraft, as airlines are increasingly interested in new airliners on the market.
The Singapore Airshow, known as the world's third-largest air show, was held in the Southeast Asian country of Singapore from February 20 to February 25. On the first day of the air show, Scherer said at the first roundtable held that COMAC C919 will not particularly break the current market situation.
He said the new aircraft would not take a lot of market share from Airbus and Boeing in the short term, but he said that as COMAC ramps up marketing efforts for narrow-body airliners, Airbus should not just keep its head down and see competition. "We are far from ignoring COMAC – it would be a mistake to choose to ignore them," Scherer said.
Scheler noted that the C919 aircraft that debuted in Singapore is very similar to the aircraft currently offered to the market by Airbus or Boeing. The C919 uses CFM International's LEAP-1C engine, while the LEAP-1A is an optional engine for the Airbus A320NEO aircraft and the -1B is a dedicated engine for the Boeing 737 MAX.
However, he agrees that the Chinese aircraft does not bring any differentiation to the market compared to Boeing and Airbus aircraft offerings, making the C919 more attractive to potential buyers, which is why Airbus does not believe that the C919 will be "significantly disrupted from a strategic point of view". However, he also believes that there is room for the A320neo, 737 MAX and C919 narrow-body aircraft given the rapid expansion of the Asia-Pacific market.
The C919 was certified by Chinese regulators in 2022 and completed its first commercial flight in May 2023, with four deliveries so far, safely transporting more than 110,000 passengers.