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Commercial Aircraft corp. of China Ltd, commonly known as COMAC, is working on a 168-seat single aisle aircraft C919, hoping that the plan would help the plane maker break into big league. The dream basically here, is to challenge duopoly of <keyword id="6356166" type="COMPANY" weightage="100" keywordseo="Airbus">Airbus</keyword> Group SE and <keyword id="106501" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Boeing-Co">Boeing Co</keyword>. in the global market for air planes. That ambition is slowly taking shape in a hangar in <keyword id="6368000" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Shanghai">Shanghai</keyword>. 
 The first test flight has been postponed at least twice since 2014. The builder claims that it already has commitments from 21 customers of 517 planes. At the <keyword id="797987" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="Zhuhai-air-show">Zhuhai Air Show</keyword> this week, COMAC is set to showcase the aircraft with a mock-up and could announce more interest from prospective buyers. 
 The passenger jet project is part of an ambitious plan by President <keyword id="191809" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Xi-Jinping">Xi Jinping</keyword> to transform China from a maker of sneakers, apparels and toys into one that can compete with the likes of Airbus and <keyword id="6357957" type="CITY" weightage="100" keywordseo="Boeing">Boeing</keyword>. Getting the C919 from the design board to the skies is crucial for Xi, who has identified aerospace among sectors that could help accelerate modernization of the economy to resemble <keyword id="6355311" type="COUNTRY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Japan">Japan</keyword> and Germany. 
 "Domestic airplane manufacturing is a good case of the country's ambition to secure a foothold at the very top of the global value chain. There's still some serious groundwork to do to eventually realize its ambition of mastering sophisticated design and manufacturing processes,” said <keyword id="372218" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Liu-Yuanchun">Liu Yuanchun</keyword>, executive dean of the <keyword id="3798946" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="national-academy-of-development-and-strategy">National Academy of Development and Strategy</keyword> at <keyword id="426615" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="Renmin-University-of-China">Renmin University of China</keyword> in <keyword id="1333" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Beijing">Beijing</keyword>. 
 
COMAC kicked off research and development on the C919 in 2008 as soon as the establishment of the company. The mission was to realize the dream of building and flying a large commercial aircraft -- hailed as the "flower, and "pearl, of modern manufacturing and embodiment of the nation's technological standing. 
 “China may eventually pull it off with the C919, but the aircraft may be initially confined only to the domestic market and to some interest from a few developing countries,” <keyword id="694963" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Shukor-Yusof">Shukor Yusof</keyword>, a founder of aviation consulting firm <keyword id="2670814" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="Endau-Analytics">Endau Analytics</keyword> in <keyword id="8695" type="COUNTRY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Malaysia">Malaysia</keyword> told ET. 
 
“Safety concerns may deter the world's top airlines from opting for the jet,” he added. 
 
Shukor feels that with few upgrades, the jet would be taken seriously by the world but he also feels that to reach that comfort levels, it could take two more decades.

COMAC to build 168 seat single aisle aircraft, it is going to give Airbus and Boeing a run for their money

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Demand for <keyword id="12546013" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="air-cargo" source="Orion">air cargo</keyword> rose 6.9% in 2021 compared to 2019, the International Air Transport Association estimates.</li><li>Disruptions in ocean <keyword id="11921983" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="shipping" source="Orion">shipping</keyword> is likely to keep demand for air freight up, analysts said.</li></ul>Nearly 90% of the world's goods are transported via ocean <keyword id="13368932" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="freighters" source="Orion">freighters</keyword>, but the industry has been in a state of crisis for two years. On top of being disrupted by the pandemic, shipping now faces even more complications because of the war in Ukraine.In the midst of the shipping industry's issues, demand for air cargo is rising. Volumes transported by air cargo rose 6.9% in 2021 compared to 2019, according to the <a href="https://www.iata.org/en/pressroom/2022-releases/2022-25-01-01/">International Air Transport Association</a> (IATA). The group skipped data for 2020 due to pandemic distortion.Now, airlines are lining up to convert old passenger <keyword id="11896629" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="planes" source="Orion">planes</keyword> into freighters.Over the last three decades, some 50 to 70 passenger-to-freighter <keyword id="13509013" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="conversions" source="Orion">conversions</keyword> took place each year, aerospace consultancy <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/can-cargo-conversion-boom-last-mike-stengel/">AeroDynamic Advisory</a> wrote in a <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/can-cargo-conversion-boom-last-mike-stengel/">LinkedIn</a> post on March 3. Today, demand is skyrocketing: AeroDynamic said it expects conversions to more than double to 180 a year by 2025."Trade via air cargo continues to be something that is growing because of the growth of e-commerce and also because shipping is also not very efficient these days, causing some delays," Shukor Yusof, founder of <keyword id="12018329" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="aviation" source="Orion">aviation</keyword> consulting firm Endau Analytics, told Insider.But it's not a perfect solution: The cost of transporting goods via air cargo is significantly higher than by shipping — and the consumer may well be the one paying the difference. <h2>The rise of air freight could feed into <keyword id="11894140" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="inflation" source="Orion">inflation</keyword></h2><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/shipping-crisis-causing-shortages-why-2021-6">The shipping industry crisis</a> has been fed by a global labor crunch and operational issues tied to <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/seafarers-taking-repeat-vaccinations-omicron-spooks-supply-chains-2021-12">vaccine recognition,</a> border controls, and <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/shipping-supply-chain-crisis-long-china-covid-quarantines-2021-11">quarantine requirements</a> amid the pandemic.The war in Ukraine is likely to <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/russia-ukraine-crisis-worsen-shipping-seafarer-labor-shortage-supply-chain-2022-2">further complicate the crisis</a>, as about 15% of seafarers are Russian or Ukrainian, per the <a href="https://www.ics-shipping.org/press-release/supply-chain-issues-will-be-compounded-by-lack-of-ukrainian-and-russian-seafarers-says-global-body-representing-international-shipping/">International Chamber of Shipping.</a> Sanctions against Russia could make it difficult to pay staff, and it could become more difficult to recruit Ukrainian seafarers because country has <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/ukrainian-president-announces-general-mobilization-2022-2">banned all male citizens</a> from the ages of 18 to 60 from leaving the country.<div type="image" title="Workers load cargo onto a Boeing 777F." height="768" width="1024" msid="90556494" hostid="261"></div>Air freight has become an appealing alternative — particularly for smaller, expensive items like semiconductor chips, and perishables like food."Air cargo volumes have been rising as the global economy recovers from the pandemic, as bottle necks in the supply chain persist," said Nirgunan Tiruchelvam, head of consumer sector equity research at Tellimer, a London-based research house.While about 2% to 3% of the world's trade by volume is transported via planes, it represents 35% of global trade value, according to law firm <a href="https://www.reedsmith.com/en/perspectives/global-air-freight/2022/01/surge-in-demand-for-air-freight-raises-aviations-outlook-but-for-how-long">Reed Smith.</a>By contrast, around 90% of the world's traded goods are carried via ocean freight, which is four to six times cheaper than <a href="https://www.freightos.com/freight-resources/air-freight-vs-ocean-freight-making-the-decision/">air freight.</a> As energy inflation heats up, jet fuel prices — alongside oil — also hit <a href="https://www.reuters.com/markets/europe/jet-fuel-price-surge-deals-heavy-blow-fragile-air-travel-recovery-2022-03-08/">14-year highs</a> earlier this month. The increased cost in air <keyword id="11894924" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="transportation" source="Orion">transportation</keyword> will feed into inflation, said Tiruchelvam.And that's where the trouble for the consumer comes in.As companies look to recover from the hit their earnings took during the pandemic, it's likely companies "will pass the cost to end users," Tiruchelvam told Insider.Both Yusof and Tiruchelvam said perishable foods, like fresh produce, are among the products that could be air-flown more due to supply chain disruptions.<h2>Airlines' shift to more cargo services may be here to stay</h2>Cargo now accounts for about 30% of the revenue for a typical airline business. That's up from 10% to 15% before the pandemic, according to an <a href="https://www.iata.org/en/publications/newsletters/iata-knowledge-hub/what-types-of-cargo-are-transported-by-air/">IATA report</a> released in May. But cargo capacity last year was "constrained" at about 10% lower than in 2019, <a href="https://www.iata.org/en/pressroom/2022-releases/2022-25-01-01/">IATA</a> said in January.That, Yusof said, is in part because cargo capacity in passenger planes has been slashed in the pandemic as travel has plunged.To cater to the demand, airlines have been acquiring new cargo planes — but it's more cost-effective to convert an old <keyword id="12031189" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="passenger-plane" source="Orion">passenger plane</keyword> to a freighter. A new freighter can cost hundreds of millions of dollars, but acquiring and converting an old passenger plane costs tens of millions of dollars, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/how-passenger-airliners-are-converted-into-freighter-planes-2021-2#the-conversion-process-takes-on-average-around-100-days-but-if-a-customer-chooses-to-have-the-firm-handling-extra-work-like-maintenance-and-painting-it-can-take-as-long-as-120-days-21">Insider's Thomas Pallini</a> reported last February.<div type="image" title="Boeing 767-300ER cargo conversion" height="3744" width="4992" msid="90556495" hostid="261"></div>Demand used to come from dedicated cargo companies like DHL and FedEx, but passenger airlines are also entering the space, Yusof said. Last week, <a href="https://news.alaskaair.com/newsroom/alaska-air-cargo-800-freighter-conversion/">Alaska Airlines</a> — the fifth-largest airline in the US — announced it was converting two of its midlife narrow body Boeing 737-800 into cargo planes. The <a href="https://www.alaskaair.com/content/travel-info/our-aircraft/737-700">carrier</a> said it has already converted three smaller Boeing 737-700s dedicated to cargo.One company that's seen a big boost for its conversion services is Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI). Before the pandemic, it converted about 18 aircraft a year. Last year, it converted 25 aircraft."As our society has become more accustomed to ecommerce, we expect to see a continuous upward trend in the need for cargo planes and for the most cost-effective solution — cargo plane conversions," an IAI spokesperson told Insider.The shift toward more cargo services could be permanent for passenger airlines as business travel may not return to pre-pandemic levels, said Yusof."There will be increasing demand for a lot of aircraft to be converted into cargo," he told Insider. "I don't think we'll go back to where we were pre-Covid. The aviation landscape has changed."

Passenger planes are being converted to cargo planes at record levels to make up for disrupted ocean freight — but even as it solves one problem, it's feeding into another

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COMAC to build 168 seat single aisle aircraft, it is going to give Airbus and Boeing a run for their money

BI India Bureau

Passenger planes are being converted to cargo planes at record levels to make up for disrupted ocean freight — but even as it solves one problem, it's feeding into another

Huileng Tan

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