COLOGNE: Europe’s heat safety regulation will take whatever time is needed to review China’s C919 passenger aircraft, its top official told Reuters, dampening Beijing’s hopes of rapidly breaking into a market marked by jet shortages and a Boeing safety crisis.
China is putting more regulatory pressure on American governments to secure funding for its new aircraft, but industry sources warn that it may take years for landmark approvals to be granted.
The COMAC C919 small body jet, which was created to compete with the best-selling models of the world’s top planes Airbus and Boeing, was introduced into China last May after obtaining home safety certification in 2022.
COMAC had initially requested European approval in 2019 before the COVID- 19 pandemic stopped work, according to Luc Tytgat, acting executive director of the European Union Aviation Safety Agency ( EASA ). It be- launched the charge in November, requesting that the work been completed by 2026.
In an interview at EASA’s Cologne headquarters, he said,” Honestly, I do n’t know if we will be able to do it yet. The plane is too new to us to know how easy or difficult it will be.”
” Since 2019, items continued to be done in China so we now have to be briefed on the modifications”, he added.
The comments come a few weeks after China’s state-owned airlinemaker demonstrated the C919 at the Singapore Air Show to promote the aircraft as a potential replacement for Airbus at a time when Boeing is concerned about output quality issues with its 737 MAX and Airbus waiting lists are complete.
COMAC needs to win widespread popularity of its design from international regulators like EASA and the US Federal Aviation Administration in order to secure important trade talks.
In order to maintain any imports meet their personal safety standards, European regulators must choose whether to offer their own “validation” of China’s documentation of the plane in accordance with an EU-China agreement signed in 2019.
Without this authorization, the C919 may sail in Europe.
” Reconnecting and getting familiar with what the plane looks like today will be a lot of work,” said Tytgat.
Tytgat’s feedback suggest EASA is at the “technical familiarisation” level, which authorities say is the first part of a qualification process that can last five years or more.
Since the tragic 2018 and 2019 Boeing 737 MAX crashes, which exposed design and oversight flaws, Western regulators have tightened certification of aircraft. However, the scrutiny is anticipated to be particularly intense for the first jet from a new manufacturer.
Ryanair, an Irish budget airline, has stated in the past that it would examine the Chinese jet.
No European airline, however, has so far not pressed EASA to expedite certification work so that it can place an order, according to Tytgat.
At a meeting in Beijing in January, the Civil Aviation Administration of China ( CAAC ) made the announcement that it would support the C919’s globalization in 2024.
According to official reports, CAAC will work this year to get the plane recognized in Europe. The regulator has not provided specifics about the plan.
China’s regulator and its manufacturer did not respond to requesting comments right away.
Following its international air show debut in Singapore, COMAC took its planes on a promotional tour of east Asia, landing in Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Malaysia and Indonesia where it met airline and government officials. The planes made their final stop in Malaysia on Tuesday, where they arrived.