China's Comac conducts test flight of sixth home-made C919 jet

Prototype took off from Shanghai on Friday with a flight duration of two hours and five minutes

A model of the Commercial Aircraft Corp. of China Ltd. (Comac) C919 aircraft sits on display at the Singapore Airshow held at the Changi Exhibition Centre in Singapore, on Tuesday, Feb. 6, 2018. The state-owned Chinese company producing the nation’s first homebuilt single-aisle commercial aircraft expects to start mass production of the C919 jet after 2021 as it seeks to chase markets in Asia and Africa. Photographer: SeongJoon Cho/Bloomberg
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China's state-owned plane maker conducted the sixth and final flight test of its C919 narrowbody jet on Friday, marking a milestone in the programme, which aims to develop a domestic competitor to Boeing and Airbus.

The jet departed from Shanghai Pudong International Airport with a flight duration of two hours and five minutes, Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China (Comac), said in a statement on its website. The sixth prototype of the jet, known as A106, mainly tested the cabin, lighting and external noise.

"Production of the C919 large passenger aircraft is being carried out simultaneously," Comac said. "The first batch of delivered aircraft components has begun production and orders for systems and structures are being issued."

Comac is building the C919, a narrowbody passenger jet with a capacity of around 170 seats, designed to compete with the single-aisle Boeing 737 and Airbus A320 family models. The C919 has dozens of customers, with 815 orders and is a symbol of China’s civil aerospace ambitions to become a global plane maker and shake up the powerful Western companies’ domination of the skies.

Comac currently has five C919 planes conducting test flights around the country including at Shanghai Pudong, the Yanliang district of Xi'an, Dongying on the northern coast of the Shandong province and the capital city of Jiangxi province, Nanchang, among other places, the company said.

The Shanghai-headquartered jet maker is aiming to obtain Chinese certification for the C919 in 2021, a delay from its initial target of 2020, according to Reuters. Comac officials said the date is subject to regulatory approval and the aircraft’s safety remains a top priority.

The C919 completed its maiden test flight in 2017.

China's challenge to the duopoly of Airbus and Boeing comes as the US plane maker grapples with the continued global grounding of its 737 Max best-selling jet after it was involved in two deadly crashes that claimed 346 lives.

The Civil Aviation Administration of China was the first major regulator to ground the plane hours after Ethiopian Airlines flight 302 crashed on March 10. Chinese airlines had taken 20 per cent of all delivered Max jets prior to the grounding.