Comac C919
Illustrative image; it may differ from the actual aircraft.The Comac C919 is a narrow-body airliner developed by Chinese state owned aircraft manufacturer Comac. The development program was launched in 2008 as a competitor to the Airbus A320 and Boeing 737. Production began in December 2011, with the first prototype being rolled out on 2 November 2015; the maiden flight took place on 5 May 2017. On 29 September 2022 the C919 received its CAAC type certificate. The first production airframe was delivered to China Eastern Airlines on 9 December 2022 and was put into commercial passenger service on 28 May 2023. The aircraft, primarily constructed with aluminium alloys, is powered by CFM International LEAP turbofan engines and carries 158 (8J + 150Y) to 168 (168Y) passengers in a normal operating configuration up to 5,555 km (3,000 nmi; 3,500 mi).
Specifications
Figures for the C919 variant, the most representative of the family
The type first flew in 2017 (9 years ago) · About 30 units built · Still in production
Figures for the type, not for this particular aircraft: each variant and each configuration changes something. They are shown in both systems used in aviation.
The story of the type
Naming
In the model number, the C stands for "Comac" and "China". The C also forms an "ABC" parallel situation with Airbus and Boeing. The following 9 refers to longevity as per Chinese culture and the following 19 refers to the seat capacity of 190.
Development
The 2008 program launch initially targeted a maiden flight in 2014. Comac applied for a type certificate for the aircraft from the Civil Aviation Authority of China on 28 October 2010. At that time the company intended to manufacture up to 2,300 aircraft of the type. In June 2011, COMAC and Irish low-cost airline Ryanair signed an agreement to co-operate on the development of the C919. In 2012 Airbus' chief strategist Marwan Lahoud assumed that the aircraft would offer competition to Airbus by 2020.
Preliminary design
On 24 November 2011, Comac announced the completion of the joint definition phase, marking the end of the preliminary design phase for the C919, with estimated completion of the detailed design phase in 2012. Production of the first C919 prototype began on 9 December 2011. The C919's aerodynamics were designed with the help of the Tianhe-2 supercomputer. The annual production was targeted at 150 planes by 2020. Canada's Bombardier Aerospace started collaborating in March 2012 on supply chain services, electrical systems, human interface, cockpit, flight training, flight-test support, sales, and marketing.
Prototyping
Its announced development budget was CN¥58 billion (US$9.5 billion) but its actual cost was estimated at well over CN¥125 billion (US$20 billion). The first prototype was expected to complete final assembly in 2014 and perform its first flight in 2015; however, delivery was delayed again until 2018 due to technical difficulties and supply issues. At the November 2014 Zhuhai Airshow, it was announced that the first flight would be delayed to 2017. On 2 November 2015, Comac rolled out its first C919 aircraft.
In May 2018, the development of a composite wing completed in 2012 was revealed years after abandoning it for a metallic one, as static and damage tolerance tests were completed, verifying the structural design and strength before full-size composite wingbox tests.
On 12 July, the static test aircraft simulated a 2.5g manoeuvre with a 150% ultimate load, bending the wings at the tips by nearly three metres for three seconds.
Espionage and reverse-engineering allegations
According to a report from cybersecurity firm Crowdstrike and a US Justice Department indictment, from 2010 to 2015 the Chinese cyberthreat actor Turbine Panda, linked to the Ministry of State Security's Jiangsu Bureau, penetrated a number of the C919's foreign components manufacturers including Ametek, Capstone Turbine, GE Aviation, Honeywell, Safran, and others and stole intellectual property and industrial process data with the aim of transitioning component manufacturing to Chinese companies. The report stated that the operations involved both cyber intrusion and theft as well as human intelligence operations, in most cases using a piece of code custom written for this industrial espionage operation.
As of 2019, four people have been arrested in the US as a result of investigations into this economic espionage and theft of trade secrets.
In November 2022, a federal jury in Cincinnati convicted Yanjun Xu, 42, on counts of conspiracy to commit economic espionage, conspiracy to commit trade secret theft, attempted economic espionage and attempted trade secret theft. The US court found that Xu played a key role in a plot to steal trade secrets from western aerospace firms, for the purpose of helping the C919 commercial airliner program. He was sentenced to 20 years in prison.
It has been also put forward that Comac reverse-engineered some Western aircraft designs such as A320 and 737, although the extent and credibility of such claims are disputed. Former Airbus vice president Patrick Devaux stated that a newly-purchased A320 that was originally meant for commercial service was instead dismantled to be examined and the aircraft has since been known as the "ghost plane"; Airbus has not commented in order to preserve its market standing in China.
Junjie "Jeff" Zhang was stopped by customs from boarding a flight in Dallas to China in 2019 with devices containing confidential and proprietary documents, graphs and blueprints belonging to the aviation company where Zhang worked. The company based in Wichita was seeking at the time to do business with COMAC on the C919 airplane.
Flight testing
High-speed taxi tests by the first C919 prototype were completed in April 2017 and the first flight took place on 5 May 2017. At the time, Comac had a planned test programme of 4,200 flight hours and introduction to service in 2020.
Variants
The C919-100 is the baseline variant of the C919 family, the series has two variants: C919-100 STD and C919-100 ER.
The baseline variant of the C919-100 series is designated "C919-100 STD", STD for standard. Equipped with two CFM International LEAP-1C28 engines, each rated at 129.98 kilonewtons [kN] (29,220 lbf) of maximum takeoff (MTO) thrust and 127.93 kN (28,760 lbf) of maximum continuous thrust (MCT).
It is the most popular variant of the C919-100 series, with over 300 confirmed orders from China Eastern Airlines, China Southern Airlines and HNA Aviation.
The extended range variant of the C919-100 series is designated "C919-100 ER". Equipped with two CFM International LEAP-1C30 engines, each rated at 137.14 kN (30,830 lbf) of MTO thrust and 133.22 kN (29,950 lbf) of MCT. Together with other improvements to enable a higher maximum takeoff weight (MTOW) and higher maximum taxi weight (MTW), therefore extends the payload envelope and its range capability.
Noticeably the extended range capability is enabled by higher MTOW and potential structural strengthening, no auxiliary fuel tanks are fitted, therefore it retains the same fuel capacity as the standard (STD) version.
Air China is the only confirmed C919-100 ER operator at the moment, with over a hundred orders in the order book.
Jointly developed with Tibet Airlines (later Xizang Airlines), the C919-600 is the shortened fuselage variant of the C919 family which rolled out in January 2026.
Compared to the standard C919-100, the -600 removed 6 frames from the body fuselage and reduced weight for better performance.
The shortened version of the C919 is anticipated to serve routes with high-altitude landing sites, with a typical seating range of 140 to 160 passengers.
It is designed to be capable of operating at all the high-plateau airports in China including the highest commercial airport in the world — Daocheng Yading Airport (ZUDC/DCY) at 14,472 feet (4,411 m), which is only served by specially up-rated and modified Airbus A319 at this time.
Jointly developed with China Eastern Airlines, the C919-800 is the extended fuselage variant of the C919 family which is under development and expect to enter service by 2030.
At its maximum, the extended fuselage variant would fit nearly 50 more passengers than the current variant, which can seat 156–192 people.
Overview and history adapted from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA) · technical figures from the manufacturer’s published specifications and standard aviation references
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This page was last updated on October 11, 2026
APA
Vuelopedia. (2026, October 11). Comac C919. Retrieved October 16, 2026, from https://vuelopedia.org/en/model/c919
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“Comac C919.” Vuelopedia, Fundación Poderia, 11 Oct. 2026, vuelopedia.org/en/model/c919. Accessed 16 Oct. 2026.
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BibTeX
@misc{vuelopedia_en_model_c919,
author = {{Vuelopedia}},
title = {{Comac C919}},
publisher = {Fundación Poderia},
year = {2026},
date = {2026-10-11},
url = {https://vuelopedia.org/en/model/c919},
howpublished = {\url{https://vuelopedia.org/en/model/c919}},
urldate = {2026-10-16},
note = {Accessed 2026-10-16}
}Wikipedia
{{cite web |url=https://vuelopedia.org/en/model/c919 |title=Comac C919 |website=Vuelopedia |publisher=Fundación Poderia |date=2026-10-11 |access-date=2026-10-16 |language=en}}