Production of parts and components of first delivered C919 aircraft commences

On the occasion of arrival of the 70th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China, Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China, Ltd. (COMAC) held a Commencement Ceremony & Mobilization Meeting on First Batch Production of C919 Program together with AVIC Xi'an Aircraft Industry (Group) Co., Ltd., Pudong base of Shanghai Aircraft Manufacturing Co., Ltd. (SAMC), and AVIC CAC Commercial Aircraft Co., Ltd. on September 26th, 2019. The production of the parts and components, such as the center lower panel of the outer wing section, of the first delivered C919 aircraft commenced in the factory buildings at Xi'an, Shanghai and Chengdu, which marks a substantial progress in the parallel development of flight test and batch production of C919 program.

It is an extremely complicated system engineering to develop and produce a trunk liner which is safe, reliable and competitive in the market. After its maiden flight on May 5th, 2017, C919 aircraft has officially entered the phase of flight test. So far, four test aircraft have carried out flight test in Shanghai, Xi'an, Dongying and Nanchang. While making solid progress in flight test, COMAC fully respects the needs of customers and plays a leading role as the main manufacturer. COMAC has started production preparation and coordination for the first batch of aircraft to be delivered to customers as early as December 2017.

The airframe structure of C919 aircraft mainly includes the sections of nose, fwd fuselage, mid fuselage (including center wing), mid-aft fuselage, aft fuselage, outer wing, vertical stabilizer, horizontal stabilizer and movable surfaces, which are independently designed by COMAC, manufactured by AVIC Chengdu Aircraft Industrial (Group) Co., Ltd (CAC), AVIC Jiangxi Hongdu Aviation Industry Group Co., Ltd, AVIC Xi'an Aircraft Industry (Group) Co., Ltd. (XAC), Shenyang Aircraft Corporation (SAC), Harbin Aircraft Industry (Group) Co., Ltd. (HAIG), AVIC Changhe Aircraft Industry (Group) Co., Ltd., Aerospace Research Institute of Special Materials and Processing Technology, and Zhejiang Xizi Aviation Industry Co., Ltd., and assembled by COMAC.

As the largest supplier of airframe structural members for C919 aircraft, XAC has undertaken the development of the work packages of C919 mid fuselage (including center wing) and outer wing section, accounting for more than 35% in the whole aircraft structure. These structural members are load-bearing parts of the aircraft, which have high technical difficulty and complex assembly relationship in that: first, there are intensive new materials, new technologies and new processes in the whole aircraft structure; second, these structural members have the largest number of parts and components, including more than 18,600 parts and components in 14,000 stand-alone items, more than 360,000 standard parts in 2,500 types, and nearly 20,000 toolings. The nose of C919 aircraft has multiple curved surfaces, which requires high design accuracy and is difficult to manufacture. As the sole supplier of the nose of C919 aircraft, AVIC CAC Commercial Aircraft Co., Ltd. is responsible for the development and production of the nose. COMAC undertakes the batch production of the horizontal stabilizer and part of the mid fuselage (including center wing) of C919 aircraft, and is responsible for the subassembly and final assembly of the aircraft.

Currently, COMAC has accumulated certain experience in the batch production and delivery of ARJ21-700 aircraft, the quality assurance system for aircraft production has been further improved, the CAAC supervision mode has been formally determined, and all kinds of work carried out around the production of C919 aircraft are becoming mature. After the production of parts and components of first delivered C919 aircraft commenced, COMAC, as the main manufacturer, would work together with the airframe supplier, take overall consideration of the program development progress, certification plan, main manufacturer-supplier productivity and CAAC review, gradually get through the production line of C919 aircraft from parts and components to assemblies, assemblies to sections, and sections to the whole aircraft, and carry out strict quality control, in order to lay a solid foundation for the follow-up all-round commencement of batch production of C919 aircraft, and steadily advance the industrialization and marketization of China-made commercial aircraft.