China’s civil aviation authority has proposed a regulatory change to allow the domestically produced passenger jet, the C919, to use runways as narrow as 30m found in smaller airports. 45m is the global standard, but Boeing and Airbus do also use 30m ones for their 737s and A320s in some circumstances. The announcement by the civil aviation administration is subject to a 10-day public comment period before being finalized, and says it takes into consideration market demand amid hopes to make the C919 more competitive both within China and in Southeast Asia, where some smaller airports use narrower runways.
The rollout of the C919 has been much slower than anticipated and sales in 2025 fell far short of expectations—only 15 aircraft sold compared to the 75 projected. But China is eyeing a place next to the giant Boeing and Airbus as a world-class passenger plane manufacturer. A recent exclusive by the South China Morning Postclaims that COMAC’s newest plane design, the C929, may rollout earlier than the originally expected 2035. The C929 is China’s answer to the Boeing 787 and Airbus A350 and is touted to include a domestically manufactured engine, the CJ-2000.
There is no other country that is able to realistically compete with the dominance Airbus and Boeing have in the commercial airline market besides China. The Chinese system has the capacity and will—and has made self-reliance an absolute priority. The C919 and C909 have both already fallen short of expectations in terms of timeline and sales and it is not yet clear what sort of uptake either the C909 or its upcoming sibling will get abroad.