China is training representatives from Southeast Asia this month in an effort to promote its home-grown civilian aircraft, as the region leads the world in accepting Chinese deliveries despite Airbus and Boeing’s dominance.
Twenty participants from Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam are taking part in the 2025 China-Asean Civil Aviation Management Capacity Enhancement Workshop in Beijing, which started Monday.
Organised by the Civil Aviation Administration of China, the 14-day training course covers safety management, airworthiness certification, green development, new technologies and domestically produced large aircraft, according to an online statement.
The workshop is being held at a time when the Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China (Comac), the Shanghai-based manufacturer of the C909 and C919 aircraft, is seeking to expand its presence in the Southeast Asian market and service the travel needs of its 700 million people.
“I think it’s a good time to enter into trying to push the development of the manufacturer,” said Hugh Ritchie, CEO of Aviation Analysts International in Australia, citing the broader trend of China-Southeast Asia economic cooperation.
Comac hoped to “break the duopoly” of Airbus and Boeing, Ritchie added. The two Western giants supply most of the world’s large jet aeroplane fleet.
The Chinese firm’s nine-year-old small C909-model regional jets have operated in Southeast Asia for the past decade, making a total of 470,000 passenger trips, according to the Civil Aviation Administration of China.
Indonesia was the first country to accept the jets, followed by Laos and Vietnam.
However, Comac’s larger, newer, narrowbody C919 aircraft – comparable in specifications to the Airbus A320 and Boeing 737 families – has yet to find a market outside China. Domestically, more than 1,000 orders have been placed.
While pursuing European Union certification, the Shanghai-based manufacturer has intensified its marketing efforts in Southeast Asia, establishing representative offices in Hong Kong and Singapore last year.
Some Southeast Asian nations, including Malaysia, have expressed interest in the Chinese narrowbody passenger jet.
China’s workshop would help train Southeast Asian participants to understand the C909, which differed from other aircraft types, according to independent aviation analyst Li Hanming.
He warned that Comac planes still faced “major hurdles” outside China concerning regulation, maintenance and training.
“For Comac, it is very important that more regulatory authorities understand how the C909 and the C919 fly and what the differences are [compared] with Boeing and Airbus aircraft,” Li said.
China’s aviation authority said that 2,552 scheduled passenger flights now operate each week between China and Asean countries, an increase of 8.3 per cent over last year.
Analysts said Comac aircraft made sense given the sheer volume of air traffic in the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations.
“Domestic and intra-Asean trans-island routes are lucrative, high-demand routes suitable for regional jets,” Li said. - SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST
