Media365
China’s top aircraft maker is stepping up efforts to promote its first business jet as it looks to break into a market dominated by Western aviation firms like Gulfstream Aerospace.
The Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China (Comac) took the rare step of showcasing a completed version of the model – called the Comac Business Jet, or CBJ – at an exhibition in the southern Chinese city of Guangzhou in October.
The move signalled the state-owned company was “seeking to break into the large-cabin VIP aircraft market” with the CBJ, aviation industry news outlet AIN Media Group reported on Thursday.
It first received regulatory approval a decade ago, and the Civil Aviation Administration of China issued the twin-jet’s type certificate validation in 2021, according to AIN.
“They might have made a decision to compete in the same sector,” said David Dixon, the Hong Kong-based president of business aircraft seller Jetcraft Asia, adding that aircraft firms often used exhibitions to gauge the market.
