China’s C919, rival to Boeing and Airbus, makes debut display outside Asia

China staged a Middle East debut for its C919 jetliner with a flying display at the Dubai Airshow on Monday, its first outside East Asia, as it showcases plans to compete with Airbus and Boeing. The C919 aircraft, in a white livery with blue and green details, took off at around 3:30 p.m. local time (1130 GMT) and made a few circle rounds in the sky before landing safely on the Al-Maktoum international airport runway tarmac.

Chinese planemaker COMAC has ambitions to take on dominant Western manufacturers Airbus and Boeing as well as their smaller Brazilian rival Embraer. Its two existing plane models - the C909 and C919 - lack key certifications from Western regulators, however, and COMAC is looking for alternative markets to help boost its profile. C919: CHINA'S ANSWER TO THE AIRBUS A321NEO, BOEING MAX 10 At the Airshow on Monday, dozens of people lined up to see the C919 airplane parked at the venue alongside dozens of other aircraft. A pilot sat in its cockpit talking to visitors about his experience operating the plane. COMAC is building plans for a family of aircraft. At its stand in the airshow's main exhibition hall, visitors took photos of a longer version of the C919 dubbed the Stretched Variant, which COMAC said would seat 210 passengers and serve the Asia-Pacific region. The planned longer version takes aim at the Airbus A321neo and Boeing's upcoming 737 MAX 10 - the top end of the single-aisle market where Airbus and Boeing are battling for the most hotly contested orders. On the tarmac, COMAC also displayed its regional C909, which was China's first jet-engine-powered plane to reach commercial production and entered service in 2016.

Neither model has won a major global customer so far.