China丨C919

Chinese passenger jet C919 breaks the ice 

C919

The German media once mocked that flying in a Chinese plane is like asking a German to drive a car made in China - it's a pipe dream!

Before the reform and opening up China's productivity was backward, its comprehensive national power and international status were low, and in the view of foreigners, China was a country with backward technology and no innovation. Because of the related prejudice, many foreign media think that China can't build its own big airplane. The American Aviation Week has mocked: the Chinese want to build a big plane, it is a false shot.

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Since entering the 21st century, with the rapid development of China's economy and the improvement of people's living standards, taking an airplane has become one of the main choices for travel, which has also brought development opportunities to China's aviation industry, so the demand for large aircraft is rising.

The global aircraft market has been dominated by the United States and Europe, with Boeing and Airbus nearly monopolizing the global aviation market. The C919 was developed from scratch, but after 13 years, China successfully built its own aircraft, the C919, which did not have as good a research and development environment as Boeing and Airbus, or sufficient funding. Under the limitation of these factors, in order to ensure the smooth progress of the C919 project, we can only import equipment from abroad and purchase engines and other important parts. The C919 domestic aircraft project was well secured, which laid the foundation for the project to move forward.

An article in the German newspaper Munich Mercury, July 19, with the original title: New Chinese plane scheduled to take off this year - but who wants to fly on it?

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According to Laura Fromberg, editor-in-chief of the trade magazine aeroTELEGRAPH, "Those who underestimate this aircraft now and don't see its chances of success are making a mistake." She compares the situation to the automotive market, where Japanese and Korean automakers once had difficulties. "At first they were ridiculed, but then they put enormous pressure on the established automakers, even as new trends in design and manufacturing emerged." The low price of Far Eastern cars was also attractive. Fromberg does not believe that "Lufthansa and Swissair will use the C919 the day after tomorrow." But in the long run, it is entirely possible.

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It is worth mentioning that more and more airlines have started to pay attention to the C919 in the past few years, and COMAC has also welcomed large orders from domestic and foreign customers. Including Air China, China Eastern Airlines, China Southern Airlines, Hainan Airlines and so on. The number of orders also ranges from several dozen to several dozen.

The purpose of China's research and development of the C919 is not only to participate in the international market competition, but also to master the initiative of the Chinese aviation market. The C919, a large domestic aircraft, has completed its maiden flight and has also received orders from domestic airlines. In the future when we look up, the sky may no longer be Boeing, Airbus, but C919. for this moment, China has spent 13 years, but everything is worth it.

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Writer| 环义平

photos | Baidu