C919 performed 2nd flight test this morning at Pudong
airport, which lasted 2h 46m. Photos by 金枫. Source: dafeng cao
Brenda Goh
SEPTEMBER 28, 2017 / 12:36 PM
SHANGHAI (Reuters) - China’s domestically developed C919
passenger jet completed its second test flight on Thursday, the jet’s maker said,
but there were questions about its duration and on the near five-month gap
between the two test flights.
The narrow-body aircraft, which will compete with
Boeing’s 737 and the Airbus A320, is a symbol of China’s ambitions to muscle
into a global jet market estimated to be worth $2 trillion over the next 20
years. It first flew on May 5 after numerous delays.
“The plane has made a smooth return,” a spokesman for its
manufacturer, Commercial Aircraft Corp of China (COMAC) [CMAFC.UL], told
Reuters.
COMAC said the plane flew up to 10,000 feet after taking
off from Shanghai’s Pudong Airport at 07:22 a.m. (2322GMT). It landed at 10:08
a.m. COMAC said, a flight time of 166 minutes. In comparison, its maiden flight
was 80-minutes long.
“The interval between the C919’s first two flights is
extraordinary,” said Bradley Perrett, a veteran China watcher and reporter at
Aviation Week in an article on Wednesday.
“The conclusion must be that COMAC was not really ready
for flight testing in May... A common view is that the C919 was put into the
air so early for strictly political reasons, although there is no suggestion
that doing so was unsafe,” he said.
The Mitsubishi Regional Jet, Japan’s first passenger
aircraft, took its second flight eight days after it first flew in 2015 while
the gap between the first and second flight for the Airbus A350 was five days,
Perrett said.
A report published earlier on Thursday by state-backed
news website ThePaper.cn said that the C919 was expected to fly between 07:20
a.m. and return at about 11 a.m. COMAC did not immediately reply to questions
on whether the flight was shorter than expected.
Strongly backed by Beijing, the C919 has so far announced
orders for 730 planes from 27 customers, many of which are Chinese leasing
companies.
Last week, Agricultural Bank of China (ABC) Financial
Leasing Co Ltd became the first customer to make a second order for the C919
jet.
Reporting by Brenda Goh; Editing by Stephen Coates and
Muralikumar Anantharaman
Original post: reuters.com
Comac C919: Details
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