Introduction
On May 28, 2023, China’s domestically produced airliner C919 entered commercial service on the Shanghai–Beijing route. The start of commercial operation marks the transition of the C919 from a development program to a commercial product, subject to rigorous evaluation by the civil aviation market. The aircraft’s entry into service provides a domestically designed narrow-body option for operators based in the Chinese market.
1. How difficult was developing the C919
Overview
A large passenger aircraft is a concentrated reflection of a country’s technological level, manufacturing capability, economic base, and comprehensive national strength. The C919 program involved high technical risk, heavy tasks, and long development cycles, and it faced a series of major challenges.
1) Talent and workforce
Developing the C919 was an extremely complex, multidisciplinary systems engineering effort. Design, manufacturing, customer support, and flight testing phases required participation by tens of thousands of personnel, while the program’s primary developer, Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China (COMAC), initially had only around 3,800 employees.
For many years, the domestic civil aircraft workforce was relatively weak in scale and experience. In the early years, COMAC recruited large numbers of recent graduates from established aviation universities, but faced shortages in core, experienced design staff. During development, many COMAC designers were under 30 and lacked experience integrating complex subsystems into a complete airframe. Shortages of specialized personnel such as flight test pilots and flight-test engineers were particularly acute.
Workforce development is a long-term process. Investment in foundational aviation research and the practical experience from the C919 program have expanded COMAC’s workforce to nearly 10,000 employees, forming a higher-capability team covering design, R&D, manufacturing, and marketing.
2) Refined management
Beyond technical innovation, the C919 program required management innovation. The program was started in 2007 and COMAC was formally established the following year. At inception, COMAC faced significant human resource and organizational challenges. To execute the demanding project, COMAC mobilized technical experts from across industry and research institutes, concentrating high-quality specialists to advance R&D.
Given the large investment and uncertain schedule, strict cost and schedule control were essential. Controlling unit production cost was critical to the aircraft’s future market competitiveness. The design and development process required careful budgeting and strict control of every development step to avoid cost escalation.
COMAC developed project organization and governance structures that combined adaptability and dynamism, balanced project and functional responsibilities, and ensured complete management elements. Based on product decomposition logic, COMAC established over 600 integrated product development teams to advance the program.
3) Technical challenges
The C919’s design had to satisfy safety, economy, passenger comfort, and environmental requirements. The design phase alone took about seven years. The aircraft comprises tens of thousands of parts, each with high precision requirements. The large airframe, thin skin panels, and susceptibility to deformation make assembly and cross-scale measurement and alignment critical. Assembly requires millions of drilled holes, with different hole-making processes for different materials, increasing process complexity. Accumulated tolerances across many parts can create quality issues, so precise, computer-controlled machining and flexible assembly positioning technologies are widely used.
Materials for large airliners must be strong and lightweight to ensure safety and efficiency. The C919 uses advanced composites and aluminum-lithium alloys extensively, but these materials require more complex processes and are costly.
Testing for large airliners is very demanding. To ensure safe flight, the C919 underwent numerous tests including full-aircraft static tests, key component fatigue tests, integrated system testing, stall tests, high-altitude cold-region tests, natural icing flight tests, tail-strike tests, bird strike tests, and more.
4) Certification
For modern civil aircraft, safety is paramount, and airworthiness certification defines the aircraft’s safety level. Certification capability is a key success factor. The most authoritative international certifications are those issued by the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) and the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). Before commercial service, C919 faced the complex and stringent task of meeting international certification standards.
COMAC has established an airworthiness management system and adopted information-based methods for standardized certification process management. An airworthiness information management system was developed to include regulatory database management, type-certification task definition, authority collaboration, and work management modules. The C919 type certificate has been issued by the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC). Nonetheless, China’s certification capabilities still need further improvement compared with the established European and U.S. systems.
2. C919 Technical Route
Aircraft manufacturing typically covers airframe component fabrication, subassembly, and final assembly. Propulsion units, avionics, hydraulic systems, control systems, instruments, and accessories are generally supplied by specialist vendors, but their installation, integration, cable and tubing routing, and system functional testing are core tasks of final assembly.
1) Prime integrator and supplier model
The C919 follows the internationally common prime integrator plus supplier model. As the prime integrator, COMAC is responsible for design, R&D, systems integration, final assembly, airworthiness certification, customer support, and marketing. Airframe structure and onboard systems are sourced from global suppliers under COMAC’s design authority, with intellectual property retained by COMAC. The airframe structure is designed by COMAC and manufactured collaboratively by major aviation enterprises within the Aviation Industry Corporation of China (AVIC).
This model allows aggregation and use of domestic and international resources: domestic design with global procurement leverages mature international production experience while enabling domestic suppliers to advance steadily and secure the supply chain. Nearly 300 companies participated in the C919 program, including major international aerospace firms such as General Electric and Honeywell, alongside many domestic suppliers.
2) Domestic manufacturing of airframe structures
The C919 airframe structure includes the nose, forward fuselage, mid-fuselage (including center wing box), center and aft fuselage, empennage, outer wings, vertical and horizontal tails, and control surfaces. These are designed by COMAC and manufactured by AVIC subsidiaries and related enterprises, with COMAC responsible for final assembly.
Key manufacturers include AVIC Xi'an Aircraft Company, Chengdu Aircraft Industry Group, Shanghai Aircraft Manufacturing Company, Shenyang Aircraft Corporation, Harbin Aircraft Manufacturing Corporation, Changhe Aircraft Industries, the Research Institute of Special Aerospace Materials and Processes, Zhejiang Xizi Aviation Industry Co., Ltd., among others. AVIC Xi'an undertook center fuselage and outer wing box segments, accounting for over 35% of the structure scope. Chengdu Aircraft supplied the nose section. Shanghai Aircraft handled the horizontal tail and part of the center fuselage and was responsible for subassembly and final assembly. Shenyang developed the aft fuselage. Landing gear bay doors were supplied by Harbin, and forward and mid-aft fuselage sections were supplied by Hongdu.
Manufacturing flows such as process preparation, parts fabrication, subassembly, and final assembly and testing for the C919 airframe were carried out independently or collaboratively by these manufacturers.
3) Joint ventures, collaboration, and indigenous development
For systems and equipment procurement, the C919 program encouraged domestic and foreign firms to form joint ventures, with preference given to JV products to promote domestic technology advancement. In many core areas the program still relied on foreign participation, including propulsion, avionics and flight control systems, fuel and hydraulic systems, power systems, and landing gear. Domestic companies participated widely within those supply chains, often via joint ventures where local firms hold a majority stake and foreign firms provide technology and production experience. For example, certain fuel and hydraulic tubing manufacturing was assigned to a joint venture where the Chinese partner held 51% and Eaton held 49%.
Other approaches included parallel independent development as a backup plan, such as the domestically developed CJ-1000 engine intended as an alternative to foreign suppliers, and fully domestic subcontracting for items such as cabin interiors.
Over recent years, domestic firms have used joint ventures, collaborations, and independent R&D to rapidly close technology gaps, increasing the degree of localization across core systems.
3. Technological Innovations in the C919
The C919 program incorporated advanced technologies across aerodynamics, structural strength, materials, electronics, controls, engines, and manufacturing. The program implemented innovations in design, manufacturing and assembly, material selection, and testing methods.
Design
Compared with comparable aircraft such as the A320neo and B737 MAX, the C919 offers a slightly wider cabin and features advanced environmental control and lighting design plus larger windows for improved passenger comfort. The aircraft uses electro-hydraulic actuation to provide greater flexibility in power distribution and increased redundancy. Aerodynamic shaping drew on experience from competing narrow-body types to reduce drag and fuel burn. The C919 windshield uses four panels rather than six, reducing drag at the nose and providing improved forward visibility.
Manufacturing and assembly
COMAC’s final assembly site in Pudong established multiple advanced production lines for full-airframe mating, horizontal tail assembly, center wing assembly, mid-fuselage assembly, and mobile final assembly. Automated hole-making, automated drilling and riveting, and automated measurement and alignment systems enabled automated assembly, integrated testing, information-based integration, and lean management. Additive manufacturing has been applied to cabin interior elements and window frames. Material selection included third-generation aluminum-lithium alloys and advanced composites, with aluminum-lithium and composites accounting for 8.8% and 12% of structural usage respectively, reducing structural weight and improving efficiency.
Testing
From the first flight in 2017 through the end of 2022, the C919 certification program executed extensive ground and flight tests, including full-aircraft static tests, fatigue tests, system functional tests, avionics tests, power system tests, electrical system activation, landing-gear extension and retraction, rain and airtightness tests, cabin pressurization limit validation, APU start tests, engine starts, taxi tests, engine reverse-thrust tests, stall flight tests, natural icing flight tests, tail-strike tests, bird strike tests, lightning strike tests, full-aircraft evacuation demonstrations, extreme weather tests, crosswind flight tests, water ingestion tests, and maximum brake-energy certification flights.
Many test items had limited domestic precedent, requiring engineers to develop new testing methods. For instance, the flight control, avionics, and power systems test teams integrated the so-called "iron bird," "electric bird," and "copper bird" test rigs into a combined "three-bird" integrated test to maximize flight safety verification.
4. Future Outlook
1) Consolidate presence in the Chinese market and build reputation
As a new type, early commercial operations will inevitably reveal issues during the entry-into-service period. These issues must be managed and mitigated to ensure safe flight and to establish the aircraft’s reputation in the Chinese market, which will help future international development. This requires improving maintenance and support coverage to match airline operations, learning from established operators’ maintenance practices and procedures, and strengthening personnel training for pilots, crew, ground staff, maintenance and technical support. Certification of personnel and strict operational standards are essential to minimize human-factor risks. Continuous airframe and systems improvements should be implemented as operational feedback identifies issues.
2) Accelerate localization of critical systems
The C919 comprises the airframe, engines, and onboard systems including flight controls, avionics, fuel and hydraulic systems, landing gear, and high-lift systems. Airframe structures, representing roughly 40% of airframe value, are largely domestically sourced from AVIC subsidiaries. However, many critical onboard systems remain dependent on foreign suppliers. The current standard engine for the C919 is the CFM International LEAP-1C; domestically developed CJ-1000 engines are still under development.
Given the strategic risks associated with reliance on foreign systems, accelerating domestic replacement of engines and core onboard systems is a high priority.
3) Upgrades and next-generation widebodies
With the C919 now in regular commercial service, future variants are likely to emerge to meet market demand, such as stretched or shortened versions and freighter conversions. Separately, development of a widebody program aimed at the 300-seat class, the C929, is already underway and has reached detailed design stages. Based on C919 program timelines, commercial operation of the C929 could become feasible around 2030.
