Air China signs deal to buy 100 C919 aircraft for $11b

Air China announced on Friday night to purchase 100 C919 aircraft from Commercial Aircraft Corp of China (COMAC), the plane manufacturer.

According to COMAC's latest price catalogue, this order will cost Air China about $10.8 billion, which includes the prices for aircraft's fuselage, additional components and engines. The new jetliners, which are scheduled to be delivered from 2024 to 2031 in batches, will increase Air China's capacity by 7.5 percent, according to the airlines' announcement.

China Eastern Airlines inked a deal with COMAC in late September to purchase an additional 100 C919 aircraft. In 2021, China Eastern became the first global customer of the homegrown passenger aircraft C919 by purchased five such jetliners. It received all the five planes in early March.

China Eastern's latest C919 order seemed cheaper than that of Air China, as the former only paid $9.9 billion for the same number of planes. But it should be noted that Air China has purchased the extended-range models, which is different from the basic models purchased by China Eastern.

But the 100 C919 aircraft ordered by China Eastern will also be delivered between 2024 and 2031, the same period as that for Air China.

COMAC has been receiving increasing orders for C919 planes.

In late April 2023, HNA Aviation Group signed a framework agreement with COMAC, saying that Urumqi Air and Suparna Airlines, two HNA's subsidiaries, will purchase 30 C919 planes respectively. Suparna Airlines will receive its first C919 plane in the fourth quarter this year, making it the world's first private carrier to fly C919. The rest C919 jetliners will be delivered to Suparna by the end of 2027.