Chinese state-owned aerospace manufacturer COMAC is stepping up promotion of its new business jet, likely in hopes that the type will eventually challenge offerings from established industry heavyweights like Gulfstream, Bombardier, and Dassault.
The company showed off a completed version of the aircraft, known as the C909 COMAC Business Jet or CBJ, at an exhibition in Guangzhou, China, in October. About a month later, the CBJ made an appearance at the Dubai Airshow, its first before a primarily Western audience.
A walk-through video filmed in Dubai and posted by NSH Aviation shows a luxury interior with white leather seats, bedroom, carpeted lounge areas, space with a conference table, small bar, and bathroom with a marble vanity, tied together by wood-and-gold furnishings and soft ergonomic lighting.
The CBJ’s design is based on COMAC’s C909 regional aircraft, which entered service in 2016. While its fuselage and wings are built in China, it does use foreign technology, including GE CF-34 engines and Collins Aerospace avionics.
The jet can reportedly seat up to 29 passengers, depending on the cabin configuration.
Finding A Market
It is not yet clear how the CBJ will be received by the global market. No COMAC aircraft has been certified by the FAA or the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA), largely limiting their use to China and a few closely aligned neighbors like Laos and Cambodia.
If the CBJ were to eventually become certified in the U.S. or Europe, it would still face stiff competition from companies like Gulfstream and Bombardier, which have large commercial footprints in the West and production-mature offerings with an established customer base.
More likely, the CBJ could be adopted by companies in China, though the business aviation market there is not as strong as it once was.
According to a report from Asian Sky Group earlier this year, the number of business jets operating in mainland China, Hong Kong, and Macau has fallen every year since 2020, when the region’s fleet reached almost 500 aircraft. Analysts linked the decline to China’s weakened economy and the government’s ramped-up anti-corruption campaign.
Under pressure from the state and fearful of public scrutiny, some Chinese companies have reduced their usage of private aircraft or sold them off, the report states.
COMAC (Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China) has not released a timeline for the CBJ’s production and eventual entry into service.
