- [Narrator] This is Comac C919.
China's first homegrown narrow body jet
that's been in the works for more than a decade.
This is a 737 MAX 8, Boeing's popular narrow body plane
among airlines worldwide.
This type of plane can cover lots of domestic
and intercontinental routes.
Accounting for more than half of the global
passenger aircraft fleet.
And that's a big reason why Beijing hopes its own model
can compete with western giants like Boeing
and become the main carrier at home.
Eventually, one day, taking on the global airspace.
So we compare the design and technology of both planes,
to see how China's deep reliance on Western parts
could stymie Beijing's ambition to challenge its US rival.
Boeing has more than a hundred years of experience
with commercial aviation.
China in comparison started exploring the industry
in the 1970s, but for several decades,
wasn't able to develop its own airliner.
So Boeing became one of China's go-to companies.
- In China, Boeing has had a great couple decades.
- [Narrator] Richard Aboulafia is managing director
with aerodynamic advisory
and aerospace and defense consultancy based in Michigan.
For more than 30 years,
he's been tracking global aviation markets
with Boeing as one of his main focuses.
- If you look back at China economic growth
and air travel demand growth,
it really took off in the '90s.
And sometime in the 2000s, that began to translate
into very large jetliner sales numbers.
- [Narrator] Boeing jetliner sales
hit a record high in 2017.
The American giant sent more than 200 planes to China.
That's about a quarter of all its deliveries that year.
It also has a 737 completion and delivery plant there.
Today, about 40% of China's passenger fleet
comes from Boeing, with more than half
of the planes held by the European giant Airbus
which also has an assembly plan in China.
So in order to reduce its reliance
on the two Western jet liners,
the Chinese government has been focused on Comac,
which was established in 2008.
And Chinese President Xi Jinping has especially
been keen on creating a domestic airliner.
(speaking Mandarin)
- [Narrator] China hasn't revealed
how much it's invested in Comac
but some aerospace analysts estimate
that the state owned company has received somewhere
between 49 and $72 billion in government aid.
- That was and is a national goal for China
to be able to compete against the US and Boeing.
- [Narrator] Alex Krutz is managing director
with US-based aerospace consulting firm,
Patriot Industrial Partners,
and he's been following Comax programs
for about seven years.
- [Alex] Ultimately, designing and building
a successful commercial airliners is very technologically
advanced for countries to be able to do.
- [Narrator] So to develop a successful commercial airliner,
China has been eyeing western designs like Boeing.
The two jets are both narrow bodies with a single aisle.
They're also about the same size
and carry a similar number of passengers.
Even the engines aren't too different.
- They're from CFM, which is a joint venture
between General Electric and Safran of France,
and they're very similar engines
with roughly similar levels of technology.
- [Narrator] Both engines are models
from the LEAP one series from CFM.
- [Richard] LEAP-1B is for Boeing, LEAP-1C is for Comac.
- [Narrator] But the MAX 8 and the C919 need more
than just the engines to take off.
- They need other systems like the mechanical systems,
landing gears or management systems
avionics for the cockpits.
- [Narrator] These components and their supply chains
have played a big role in establishing Boeing
as an industry leader over the years.
With decades of experience, the American company
has developed steady relationships
with its partners and suppliers at home and abroad,
and most of them are close allies of the US.
- It's very much an international creation.
Boeing's major international partner is Japan, Britain,
France, Canada, Italy, Germany, and many others.
- [Narrator] Those partnerships have helped Boeing
secure some of the most advanced technologies
for its aircraft like the cockpit,
which is the brain of the plane.
Comac also needs a global supply chain
to put the C919 together,
especially from American and European companies.
But aerospace analysts say some foreign suppliers
have been reluctant to provide state-of-the-art components
over concerns about their intellectual property.
This has saddled the C919 with older technology
than the 737 MAX 8 and even the Airbus 320neo.
But this may not be the biggest risk to the Comac project.
- There's this, I guess, sword hanging over the 919,
and a lot of it does come down to geopolitics.
- [Narrator] The US has long accused China
as seeking to steal advanced technologies
for use in its military, which Beijing repeatedly denied.
In January last year, the Trump administration added Comac
to a list of companies that it said supported
China's military, curbing the plane manufacturer's access
to American technology and funding.
Comac was later removed
when President Biden issued a new list.
The Chinese company didn't respond
to a request for comment about the blacklist
and concerns over IP infringement,
as well as whether geopolitical tensions
could pose a risk to its C919 program.
Even if these vulnerabilities
with sourcing critical western parts disappeared,
aviation experts say Comax still has other challenges.
- Learning how to build it, conforming,
that is to say each article is exactly the same
as the previous one, that's a major challenge.
That's one of the easiest places to stumble.
- [Narrator] And another stumbling block
if and when China goes global,
the lack of a worldwide support system
for operators to obtain C919 spare parts
or receive maintenance and repairs.
- Got a service at aftermarket support for the airplanes.
So there's vast networks that Boeing has
that Comac has to develop.
- [Narrator] For Boeing, the US giant
also has its own problems, especially in the Chinese market.
As trade tensions broke out between the US
and China in 2017, Beijing froze nearly all orders
and deliveries of Boeing's planes.
Since early 2019,
the country has also kept the 737 MAX grounded,
after two fatal crashes in Indonesia and Ethiopia.
Boeing says it continues to work with global regulators
and customers to safely return the 737 MAX
and cease China as an important market
for the company's commercial planes,
urging dialogue between Beijing and Washington.
Despite the challenges, Comac is moving forward.
The C919 marked a major milestone
in September towards carrying passengers,
and the company has plans to develop
a wide body plane as well.
But for Comac to rival Boeing,
it'll be a long and perhaps bumpy flight ahead.