COMAC to secure 50 orders at aviation exhibition

ZHUHAI - Fifty orders of China's first home-grown large passenger aircraft C919 are expected to be signed at the China International Aviation & Aerospace Exhibition.

Shi Jianzhong, vice president of the Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China, Ltd, late Monday said the names of customers will be published and deals signed during the exhibition, which is scheduled to run from November 13 to 18 in south China's Guangdong province.

Wu Guanghui, COMAC's chief designer of the C919 project, said future global and domestic markets will have a strong appetite for civil aircrafts, such as the C919.

The C919 will have up to 168 seats with a range of up to 5,555 kilometers (3,444 miles), according to the COMAC.

Industry officials said the C919 will compete with the Boeing and Airbus in the medium-range sector.

As of October, the company has secured 13 customers and orders of 330 C919 units, said Bai Xiaowei, a researcher of the aviation and aerospace department of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology.

According to the company's plan, C919 will complete its maiden flight in 2014 and be put into market in 2016.