How China's Comac Could Reshape Aviation

Even if it doesn't challenge Airbus or Boeing on the global stage, strong domestic growth will boost the aircraft maker.

- June Yoon

In a world full of Chinese-made products, one remains rare: the commercial jet.

This absence of China's passenger jets, built by state-backed manufacturer Comac, from international markets is not likely to change any time soon.

In April, two brand-new Boeing jets painted in Chinese airline livery were quietly returned to the US as Beijing's retaliatory tariffs on US exports made delivery prohibitively expensive for Chinese carriers.

The tariffs have since been lowered, but the moment exposed a deeper vulnerability: China's dependence on foreign jets has become a liability in a volatile geopolitical environment.

For years, China's commercial jet ambitions have been dismissed because of limited export prospects and dependence on foreign technology.

But that perspective overlooks a deeper shift under way. In an industry as concentrated and supply dependent as aviation, China does not need to dominate abroad to disrupt the global order.

That effort centers on the C919—Comac's answer to Boeing's 737 and Airbus A320—a narrow-body jet at the heart of China's aviation ambitions.

China's three biggest state-owned airlines have each ordered 100 C919 jets and are already flying 17 of them since its first commercial flight in 2023.