China designing new widebody C939 jet to rival Airbus and Boeing
- COMAC is developing the C939,
- It will seat up to 400 passengers
- It will rival. the Airbus A350 and Boeing 777
Published on May 14, 2024 at 8:35 PM (UTC+4)
by Amelia Jean Hershman-Jones
Last updated on May 16, 2024 at 11:10 AM (UTC+4)
Edited by
Tom Wood
The Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China, aka COMAC, is working on the C939, which is a 400-passenger jet set to cause turbulence in the world of long-haul aviation.
The widebody COMAC C939 will join the ARJ21 – an ‘Advanced Regional Jet’ – and narrowbody C919 in its aircraft lineup.
The twin-engine aircraft will be capable of covering intercontinental distances.
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COMAC aims to compete with the Airbus A350 and Boeing 777.
The pair currently have a duopoly in large commercial aircraft.
The plan is for COMAC to elbow its way in and increase its share in the long-haul aircraft market.
There’s still a long way to go, however, as despite having ‘sketched out preliminary designs’, there is no prototype, as yet.
For a seat at the mile-high, long-haul table, the C939 would need to seat 400 passengers and have a range of 7,000 NM (13,000 kilometers).
A second widebody Chinese plane is also in development: the C929.
Originally planned as a joint project between Russia and China, its name was previously CR929.
However, Yury Slyusar, the CEO of Russia’s United Aircraft Corporation (UAC), confirmed last year that the company would take a step back from being a partner in the CR929 program to simply a supplier.
This aircraft would compete with the Boeing 787 Dreamliner -which was recently seen landing in Antarctica for the first time – and Airbus A330ne – again in capacity and range.
It would seat 290 passengers.
Meanwhile, the C919 seats just over 190, but a larger C949 is yet to be confirmed.
However, the Asian aircraft manufacturer may well have bitten off more than they can chew.
Their current aircraft backlog outweighs their actual production capacity by some distance.
An investment in production capacity will be needed to generate aircraft at a scale that rivals their competitors at Boeing and Airbus.
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All Supercar Blondie contributors undergo editorial review and fact-checking to ensure accuracy and authority in automotive journalism. After gaining her BA Hons in French and English at the University of Nottingham, Amelia embarked on a vocational diploma from the National Council for the Training of Journalists (NCTJ). This led to numerous opportunities, from interning at Vogue to being on the small team that launched Women’s Health magazine in the UK, which was named the PPA Consumer magazine of the year for three years running. As Health, Beauty and Fitness editor, Amelia personally received a Johnson & Johnson Award and was shortlisted for both PPA and BSME titles. Since then, Amelia has created content for numerous titles and brands, including the Telegraph, 111 Skin, Waitrose, Red magazine, Stylist, and Elle, as well as being Head of Content at Vitality and Editor in Chief at INLondon magazine. “My superpower is translating technical jargon about the mechanical workings of a supercar into a relatable story you’ll want to share with your friends after you’ve read it.” After joining the SB Media family as a senior journalist in September of 2023, Amelia’s role has evolved to see her heading up the SEO output of the editorial team. From researching the most ‘Google-able’ key terms to producing evergreen content - it’s been a time of hard work, growth, and success for the editorial team and the Supercar Blondie website. “I like to think of myself as a ‘method journalist’. In other words: I live and breathe whatever I am writing about. When writing about fitness, I trained as a personal trainer, and as a beauty editor, I completed an ‘expert’ in scent diploma with the Fragrance Foundation. “During my tenure at Supercar Blondie, however, I did something I never thought possible: I passed my driving test at the age of 36. One day I’d love to train as a mechanic to better understand what happens under the hood, too. “My sweet spot is providing readers with a ‘takeaway’ (read: something new they didn’t know before) after reading every one of my stories. While I don’t claim to be an expert in the automotive world, I know the experts and bodies in the field to rely on to provide our readers with an informative and thought-provoking story every time they visit the site.”
