Kina med egenprousert passasjerfly som entrer tøfft marked - Curt Lewis

 

China's long-delayed C919 jet may fly by end of April

The first twin-engine C919 passenger plane made by Commercial Aircraft Corp. of China (COMAC) is pulled out of the company's hangar during a ceremony near the Pudong International Airport in Shanghai, China in November 2015. After years of delays, China's first large homemade passenger jetliner could take to the air for its maiden flight next month. (Uncredited/AP)

The first twin-engine C919 passenger plane made by Commercial Aircraft Corp. of China (COMAC) is pulled out of the company's hangar during a ceremony near the Pudong International Airport in Shanghai, China in November 2015. After years of delays, China's first large homemade passenger jetliner could take to the air for its maiden flight next month. (Uncredited/AP)

A single-aisle passenger jet that is being built by the Commercial Aircraft Corp. of China is set for its first test flight by the end of next month, according to an executive affiliated with the maker of its engines.

A single-aisle passenger jet that is being built by the Commercial Aircraft Corp. of China is set for its first test flight by the end of April, according to Philippe Petitcolin, chief executive officer of Safran, an aircraft-engine maker.

Any problems with taxi trials may alter the schedule, Petitcolin said in an interview in Paris. The Chinese C919 aircraft will be powered by the LEAP engine, made by CFM International, an equal joint venture between Safran and General Electric.

China is developing the 168-seat plane with ambitions of eventually challenging the duopoly of Airbus Group and Boeing in the global aviation market. The passenger-jet project is part of an ambitious plan by President Xi Jinping to modernize China's manufacturing. The government has identified aerospace among sectors that could help accelerate the process.

The chief engineer at COMAC, as the state-owned aircraft maker is known locally, said in October that the plane would take off by early 2017 at the latest, after at least two delays since 2014.