China’s COMAC Tops 30 Million Passengers, Expands to 12 Countries

China’s state-owned Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China (COMAC) has delivered 175 units of its C909 regional jet and carried more than 30 million passengers, a threshold Chinese media describe as a key market-validation milestone for a domestically developed commercial aircraft. Formerly known as the ARJ21, the aircraft is now in service across China and on international routes in 12 countries, according to state-run Global Times and regional media reports. The figures place the C909 at the center of China’s strategy to build an indigenous commercial aviation industry.

Global Times cited an industry rule of thumb under which an aircraft type is considered commercially proven after more than 100 deliveries and 10 million passengers transported. “Only after delivering 100 aircraft and transporting 10 million passengers can a plane be said to have completed the transformation from an ‘industrial product’ into a true commodity,” the outlet said. With 175 aircraft delivered and operations accounting for more than 60% of China’s domestic regional aviation market, the C909 has surpassed that benchmark, according to the report.

COMAC said the C909 has been in commercial operation for more than nine years. During that time, it has been deployed on both trunk and regional routes across China, including remote and frontier regions. Internationally, the aircraft has been delivered to operators in Southeast Asia, including Indonesia, Laos and Vietnam, and has obtained airworthiness certification from Brunei’s civil aviation authority. Flights have also operated to Mongolia, including a July landing in Ulaanbaatar by a C909 operated by Air China on a route from Inner Mongolia.

At the end of last year, COMAC rebranded the ARJ21 as the C909, aligning it with the C919 narrowbody and the C929 widebody currently under development as part of what it calls the “C-series.” Global Times described the move as more than a cosmetic change. “This marked a shift from model development to brand building,” the editorial said, adding that experience gained through the C909 program helped establish credibility for subsequent aircraft.

Certification remains a key constraint. COMAC aircraft have not yet received validation from the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) or the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA). Reuters has reported that COMAC had aimed to secure EASA certification for the C919 within this year, but EASA Secretary-General Florian Guillermet said it would be “difficult to obtain certification within three to six years.”