The Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China (Comac) and Russia's United Aircraft Corporation (UAC) recently announced an agreement to begin full-scale development of a new wide-body airliner, according to Aviation Week. The new jumbo jet is designed to carry 280 passengers, putting it in a similar class to the Boeing 787 and Airbus A330-900.

The joint-venture between the two aircraft manufacturers, called the China-Russia Commercial Aircraft International Corporation (CRAIC), was recently registered in Shanghai where final assembly of the aircraft will take place. CRAIC hopes to deliver the first new plane by 2027.

The name of the aircraft has not been officially selected, and Aviation Week reports that there is disagreement between the two nations about the name. China wants to continue calling the new aircraft the C929, which would adhere to the Comac naming scheme and tie the aircraft to China's C919. Russia's UAC disagrees with the decision to continue using the Comac name, but for now the aircraft is being referred to as the C929.

Manufacturing of the new aircraft will be split between Moscow and Shanghai. Russia will build the aircraft's composite wings, engine pylons, and main landing gear. China will build the fuselage, horizontal and vertical stabilizers, nose cone, and nose landing gear. The airframe is expected to be at least 50 percent composites. The two aviation manufacturers plan to use a Rolls-Royce or General Electric engine at first, but CRAIC will consider switching to the Russian-built PD-35 engine for future variants. Russian and Chinese companies will have priority to supply the rest of the aircraft components.

Both Comac and UAC have recently conducted first flights of new narrow-body airliners. The Comac C919 is the first airliner built by China, and the craft conducted its maiden flight on Friday, May 5. The MC-21 built by UAC also took to the skies for the first time recently, on Sunday, May 28, for the first flight of a home-built narrow-body aircraft in Russia since the fall of the Soviet Union. The two international aircraft manufacturers hope to continue their recent advances by jointly building a larger airliner.

The aviation market is projected to grow significantly in the coming decades, with CRAIC forecasting demand for 7,000 new wide-body aircraft from 2023 to 2045. The majority of that demand will come from China and the Pacific region, but significant growth is also expected in Russia and Eastern European countries. When airliners are looking to buy new jumbo jets, Comac and UAS want to make sure they have something to offer to compete with Boeing and Airbus.

Source: Aviation Week

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