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Suparna Airlines, a subsidiary of HNA Aviation Group, revealed today that it will receive its first C919 passenger aircraft in the fourth quarter of 2024, becoming the world's first private airline to operate the C919.

Supeng Airlines plans to introduce 30 C919 aircraft. It has currently established a C919 domestic civil aircraft center and completed two phases of C919 aircraft training for a total of 37 maintenance engineers. The company will begin training for flight, cabin crew and security personnel in late August.

Suparna Airlines said that it has established a continuous cooperative relationship with COMAC and has carried out close cooperation in engineering technology, aviation material support, operation management, personnel training, etc. In the future, Suparna Airlines' passenger aircraft fleet will be gradually adjusted to a single domestically produced C919 aircraft.

Delivered to multiple airlines in the second half of the year

The C919 large passenger aircraft is a large jet civil aircraft independently developed by my country in accordance with international civil aviation regulations and with independent intellectual property rights. It has 158-168 seats and a range of 4075-5555 kilometers.

In 2022, China Eastern Airlines, as the world's first user of the domestically-produced C919 large passenger aircraft, officially received the world's first delivery of C919 on December 9. Currently, there are six C919s operating commercial flights.

In the first half of this year, China Southern Airlines and Air China also ordered 100 C919s from COMAC respectively. According to the First Financial reporter, both airlines plan to receive their first C919 aircraft by the end of August.

In addition, COMAC also received a large order of 30 aircraft from Brunei Qiji Airlines, including 5 C919 aircraft. Tibet Airlines, which has the most experience in plateau operations, also signed an order with COMAC for 50 domestic large aircraft plateau models, including 40 C919 plateau models and 10 ARJ-21 plateau models.

As early as September 2023, He Dongfeng, chairman of COMAC, revealed that the number of orders for C919 had reached 1,061. The subsequent development of the aircraft will include shortened and lengthened versions, and the seating capacity will increase from 130 to 240 seats.

C919Capacity ramp-up in progress

The continued orders for C919 also mean that the narrow-body aircraft market, which is currently shared by Boeing and Airbus, has welcomed a third competitor. However, compared with the current delivery speed of Boeing and Airbus, the production and delivery rhythm of C919 is still far behind.

In the whole year of 2023, COMAC only delivered four C919s to China Eastern Airlines, and delivered another two in the first half of this year.

This year, China Eastern Airlines plans to receive a total of five C919 aircraft, plus one each from Air China, China Southern Airlines and Suparna Airlines, which means that COMAC's C919 aircraft production will at least double this year.

Judging from the production progress of Boeing and Airbus, Airbus delivered 142 civil aircraft in the first quarter of this year, including 116 A320 series aircraft that compete with the C919. The monthly production of Boeing 737 series aircraft in the first quarter also reached 38.

In this regard, a relevant person from COMAC once revealed to reporters that the delivery rhythm of any newly developed aircraft is from small batch delivery to large batch delivery, and the increase in production will also be a slow process. Therefore, the delivery volume of C919 aircraft in the first year will not be too much, and will increase year by year thereafter.

Zhang Yujin, deputy general manager of COMAC, said in public last year that the C919 aircraft is planned to have an annual production capacity of 150 aircraft in the next five years.