Adam Minter, Columnist

China Could Seize a Bit of the Skies

With orders from the developing world, the country's first big jet may one day challenge Boeing and Airbus.

September 24, 2017 at 9:30 PM UTC

Adam Minter is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering the business of sports. He is the author, most recently, of “Secondhand: Travels in the New Global Garage Sale."

Spectators at the C919's maiden flight.
Photographer: Greg Baker/AFP/Getty Images

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Last week, the Commercial Aviation Corp. of China Ltd. (Comac) announced that the C919, China's first homemade large passenger jet, had chalked up its 730th pre-order. Those numbers won't necessarily make the Boeing Co. or Airbus SE quake; Boeing estimates Chinese airlines alone will require 5,420 new single-aisle planes by 2036. Ultimately, though, they could herald the end of global aviation's great duopoly.

Most of the C919's orders come from state-owned Chinese companies, some of whom probably wouldn't have placed them if given a choice. The C919 is technologically out-of-date and has been repeatedly delayed; it's unlikely to enter commercial service before 2020.