On February 26, CAAC Administrator Feng Zhenglin met with He Dongfeng, President of COMAC and Zhao Yuerang, General Manager of COMAC. Feng Zhenglin emphasized that CAAC would unswervingly support the development of domestic civil aircraft. CAAC Deputy Administrator Li Jian, COMAC Vice General Manager and Academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering Wu Guanghui also attended the meeting.

Feng Zhenglin said that the 19th CPC National Congress has laid down that “we will work faster to build China into a manufacturer of quality and develop advanced manufacturing”, and the production of domestic large aircraft will help “move Chinese industries up to the medium-high end of the global value chain”. Meanwhile, the 19th CPC National Congress has also proposed to “build China’s strength in transportation”. Civil aviation is an integral part of the transportation system. A civil aviation power with a complete industry chain depends on strong manufacturing capabilities in domestic civil aircraft. COMAC is a leading enterprise of large aircraft manufacturing in China which reflects the direction and level of domestic civil aircraft development in China. CAAC takes supporting domestic civil aircraft development and COMAC development as a key task to advance the building of a civil aviation power. On one hand, CAAC will carry out strict airworthiness certification, and gradually elevate the manufacturing technology and capabilities for domestic civil aircraft to the world-class level; on the other hand, it will, on the basis of policy support, promote the access of domestic civil aircraft into the market, gradually increase the proportion of domestic civil aircraft in China’s civil aviation fleets, constantly deepen airworthiness cooperation with the USA, EU and Russia, and usher the domestic civil aircraft into the global market by means of multiple platforms. He suggested that domestic civil aircraft manufacturers including COMAC continue to improve their product quality, enhance the building of after-sale service system and technical support system, offer more support in airworthiness for civil aircraft development in the new era.

He Dongfeng said that the manufacturing of domestic civil aircraft is a key part of civil aviation industry in China. Currently, COMAC has accomplished the general strategic deployment of “one headquarters and six centers”, and basically formed its capabilities as a main manufacturer; COMAC has made great achievements in building its management system, civil aircraft technological innovation system, and civil aircraft industry system and expanding its high-quality personnel, but still has some deficiencies in product operation and customer service. In the next step, COMAC shall firmly adhere to the principle of safety first and focus on improving product and service quality. Zhao Yuerang introduced the development achievements of COMAC in recent years, and pointed out that in recent several years, CAAC, for the sake of the public interests, has imposed strict supervision on but also offered general support to domestic civil aircraft, and promoted the quality improvement, smooth operation and standard compliance of domestic civil aircraft. He hoped that CAAC would continue to offer strong support in policy, operation, type certification, international cooperation, and regional aviation market development so as to jointly open a new chapter for large aircraft development in the new era.

In 2017, the domestic C919 airliner successfully accomplished its maiden flight, which marked a historical breakthrough in the development of aviation industry in China; the production certificate was issued to the new regional aircraft ARJ21, and domestic jetliners realized mass production for the first time; and the China-Russia long-range wide-body aircraft was officially renamed as CR929, and research work for the project entered into the phase of initial design.