China’s attempt to propel itself into the top flight of the global aviation industry has taken another step forwards as the country’s first big homegrown passenger jet rolled off the assembly line in Shanghai.

About 4,000 people, including senior Communist party leaders, engineers and journalists, gathered at a hangar near the city’s Pudong international airport for the unveiling of the 158-seat C919.

Xinhua, China’s official news agency, posted a celebratory tweet after the plane, which is a direct challenge to Boeing’s 737 and the Airbus A320, was wheeled out from behind a red curtain. “China joins big jet club!” it said.

C919, China's first homemade large passenger aircraft rolls off the assembly line in Shanghai pic.twitter.com/Bd0ezmPnxi — China Xinhua News (@XHNews) November 2, 2015

The Communist party’s official mouthpiece newspaper, the People’s Daily, declared the accomplishment “an historic breakthrough”.

The development of China’s first large passenger jet has huge symbolic value for the Communist party as President Xi Jinping pursues what he calls the “great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation”.

“A great nation must have its own large commercial aircraft,” Li Jiaxiang, the head of China’s civil aviation authority, told those invited to the plane’s unveiling ceremony, according to Bloomberg. “The air transportation industry of China cannot completely rely on imports,” he said.

But hard-nosed commercial interests also lie behind China’s bid to launch its first narrow-body jet.

China’s aviation industry has experienced turbo-charged growth, with the number of airports expected to rocket from about 200 to 240 in the next five years.

Boeing predicts that by 2034 Chinese airlines will need to buy 4,630 new single-aisle planes worth $490bn (£318bn) and 1,500 new wide-body airplanes worth $450bn.

However, most of the planes criss-crossing China’s increasingly congested skies were made in the US, Europe or Brazil, where Embraer, the world’s third largest commercial aircraft manufacturer, is based.

China hopes to change that by developing its own range of passenger jets and turning the Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China (Comac) – the manufacturer behind the C919 – into a force as powerful and lucrative as Boeing, the largest US exporter.



That dream remains some way off.



Work on the C919 began in 2008 but its first test flight, originally scheduled for last year, would not now take place until 2016, Comac’s chief executive was quoted as saying by Xinhua.

Those tests would last three years before the plane could be put into commercial use, the People’s Daily said.

While the “C” in C919 stands for China, many of the plane’s systems have been provided by foreign companies, including Honeywell and Rockwell Collins.

Initially the plane, which has a range of between 2,530 miles (4,075km) and 3,450 miles, will be propelled by “Leap” engines produced by a partnership between France’s Safran and the US firm GE.

“To catch up with Boeing and Airbus is the ideal scenario, but it will take time,” said Zhang Shuguang, a civil aviation expert from Beijing’s Beihang University, who nevertheless described Monday’s “rollout” as a very meaningful moment for China.



“Designing large aircraft is a huge project,” Zhang added. “We need to be patient and have confidence. We also need to show perseverance. Progress will not come easily.”

Comac said it had already received 517 orders for the C919, the majority from Chinese firms including Air China and Hainan Airlines, which last month announced Manchester’s first ever direct flight to mainland China during Xi’s state visit to Britain.

Additional reporting by Luna Lin

