Kinesiske Comac skal levere sitt første fly i slutten av året - Curt Lewis

 Emerging Boeing rival COMAC vows to deliver its first C919 jet by year's end

Chinese jet maker Commercial Aircraft Corp. of China (COMAC) has vowed to deliver its first completed C919 single-aisle jet to an airline customer by Dec. 31.

The vow by COMAC was reported at the end of a recent story by Global Times, the Chinese government's English-language edition of the People's Daily.

"The C919 aircraft is scheduled for delivery to the first client at the end of 2021," said Yang Zhigang, who was described as the general engineer of COMAC.

The airline customer that would get the first jet was not identified, but the delivery, if completed, could mark the start of a new chapter in a global aerospace competition currently dominated by Boeing and European rival Airbus.

The state-owned newspaper said China's "domestically developed" C919 aircraft is undergoing frequent flight testing in different areas of China.

On Jan. 16, a C919 completed its first low-temperature, 23-day flight test in Hulunbuir, located in northern China's Inner Mongolia region.

The state manufacturer has built a fleet of six test jets, but testing has been slow and the program is years behind schedule.

COMAC, backed with the money and emotional support of Chinese President Xi Jinping, has even already opened what it calls its "customer service training base," for which it held a big opening ceremony on Dec. 29.

COMAC officials frequently promise aggressive timelines and often miss them. Their jet is now just starting the official aviation safety certification process in China, so it's unclear how it will meet its self-imposed deadline.

However, the aircraft maker surprised many by flying one of its jets at a Chinese air show before Christmas.

Analysts don't believe the C919 is an immediate threat to Boeing's leading market technology, but the Chinese government's decision to force its own domestic airlines to buy COMAC jets might hurt the Chicago-based jet maker and Airbus in the world's largest airplane market by reducing sales there.

That has already started to happen with regional jets. COMAC made 20 of its ARJ21 regional jets in 2020, and intends to increase the rate to 21 in 2021, the Global Times reported, poaching potential sales from Brazilian jet maker Embraer, French jet maker ATR and Mitsubishi's now-suspended SpaceJet regional program.

Further complicating matters, COMAC and Boeing are partners in a 737 Max finishing center in Zhousan, China, at which seats will be installed and planes will be painted. The 737 Max remains grounded for safety reasons in China after two crashes killed 346 people.

Japan's Nikkei reported Monday that China's three major state-owned airlines "put off" delivery of over 100 aircraft from Boeing and Airbus last year, but kept every single order from COMAC in a show of support for the domestic manufacturer during the coronavirus pandemic.

The big three Chinese carriers — China Southern, China Eastern and Air China — deferred a total of 58 planes from Boeing and 53 from Airbus in 2020, Nikkei Asia said, citing its own research.