Jumbo Jet Collaborative Innovation

The models of C919 and ARJ21 on display at the South Africa-China Hi-Tech Exhibition in Johannesburg on October 13, 2016.

Before it started to develop the C919, China was already an important supplier of global aircraft components. Currently, more than 8,000 Boeing airplanes currently in service sport components made in China. Airbus has found it much easier to install these components since the company set up a final assembly line in Tianjin in 2008.

These Chinese suppliers were therefore the natural choice of airframe suppliers for the C919 when China launched its commercial airplane initiative. AICC, supercritical airfoil supplier for the C919, manufactures wings for the Airbus A320 and has manufactured tailfins for more than 3,000 new Boeing 737s. The AVIC SAC Commercial Aircraft Company Ltd., responsible for producing C919 tailfins, is the exclusive supplier of the tailfins for Boeing 787s.

Global sourcing and collaboration is an unstoppable trend in the aviation industry. Homegrown commercial airplanes are designed in China and complete their final assembly here, but all essential components are sourced through international bidding, increasing the production capacity of domestic enterprises with an injection of new technology.

After the bidding, GE, Honeywell, CFM and 13 other international companies were chosen as suppliers of the C919’s onboard systems. During this process, China promoted cooperation between global suppliers and domestic companies, establishing 16 joint ventures in the areas of avionics, flight control, power supply, fuel, landing gear and other airplane systems.

Such cooperation has encouraged more Chinese aviation companies to participate in core development areas. China played a part in key areas of the C919 project, such as avionics, flight control and engine technology. The fuselage and aerodynamic configuration was mostly completed by AICC and COMAC. Landing gear, auxiliary power, the hydraulics and power supply systems were jointly manufactured by AICC and its foreign partners.

Production of the C919 highlights the abundant resources to be found in China. Twenty-two provinces and municipalities and over 200 companies were involved in the development of the jumbo jet, as well as 16 materials suppliers, and 54 parts suppliers and financial institutions providing financial services and leasing cooperation. Industrial aviation parks were built in Shanxi, Jiangsu and Hunan, where hundreds of thousands of workers were employed in the manufacture of the jumbo jet.