(posting this since there was no Comac C919 thread here.. close if repost)
China is taking on the world’s only large commercial aircraft producers Boeing and Airbus with its first homegrown passenger jet, the C919. The C919, built by state-owned enterprise Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China (Comac), is a single-aisle commercial liner designed to compete with the Airbus A320 and the Boeing 737. It was officially unveiled at the Zhuhai air show in south China on November 16, 2010.
Comac claims that they have already received orders for 100 jets from four Chinese domestic airlines Air China, China Southern, China Eastern and Hainan Airlines, as well as the U.S.-owned GE Capital Aviation Service.
The Chinese state media reports that the estimated market price for the C919 is 20 percent cheaper than its foreign competitors. The company expects to sell more than 2,000 C919s globally over the next 20 years.
The first "9" in the aircraft's model number stands for “forever,” based on two words’ similar pronunciations in Chinese. The “19” refers to the maximum number of 190 seats on the aircraft.
Design and assembly of the aircraft will be done in Shanghai, using foreign-made jet engines and avionics. Dimensions of the C919 are very similar to the Airbus A320. Its fuselage will be 3.96 meters (13 feet) wide, and 4.166 meters (13 feet, 8 inches) high, producing a cross-section of 12.915 square meters (139 square feet). The wingspan will be 33.6 meters (110 feet, 3 inches), or 35.4 meters (116 feet, 3 inches) if wiglets are included.<sup id="cite_ref-AvWeek1_6-3" class="reference">
</sup>According to a film shown by Comac at the 2010 Zhuhai Airshow, the company plans to build six different models of the aircraft: a base passenger aircraft with 168 seats, as well as stretched and shrunk passenger versions, business jet and freighter models, and a type designated only as "special."
Test flights for the C919 are set for 2014 and the planes will be delivered in 2016. Comac added that the C919 hopes to cash in on China’s domestic demand for planes. Some 4,439 commercial jets are expected to be needed in China by the year 2029, constituting 14 percent of the world's demand.