The Chinese aircraft manufacturer Comac will have to wait between 3 and 6 years before obtaining European certification for its single-aisle aircraft, the C919.
A certification schedule unveiled by the director of EASA, Florian Guillermet, in an exclusive interview with L'Usine Nouvelle.
The executive also took a note of an acceleration in the Chinese company's approach to expanding the commercial playing field of this competitor to the Airbus A320 and Boeing 737.
Even though Comac's managers hoped to achieve the certification in year 2025, the certification of Comac's C919 will still take time, explains the head of EASA in the interview.
They will have to wait a little longer. While the C919 obtained its certification from the Chinese authorities (CAAC) at the end of 2023, the competitor to the Airbus A320 and Boeing 737 will have to wait a few more years before winning the precious sesame in Europe, a key issue to expand its commercial operation.
"As we have officially announced to them, the C919 will not be able to be certified in 2025," said Florian Guillermet, director of the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA), in an interview with L'Usine Nouvelle in Cologne (Germany), at the organisation's premises. We should be certifying C919 in the next three to six years."
A certification by EASA would unlock global market opportunities beyond China, particularly in regions like Asia-Pacific, the Middle East, Africa, and Latin America, all of which typically recognize EASA’s regulatory authority without significant additional scrutiny.
At the beginning of the year, Comac's managers had made it widely known that they hoped to receive this European certification in 2025, as reported by the Financial Times.
"We still have to carry out validation tests of the design of the device and certain components, which is classic," says Florian Guillermet. Test flights shall also be carried out.' This schedule is not exceptional, as the average certification period for a commercial aircraft is between 5 and 8 years."
"Our work with Comac started about 4 years ago, with two really fully productive years," recalls the EASA director. Comac puts a lot of resources, willpower and technical means into this certification. I have no doubt that the company will succeed."
Admittedly, about 80% of the C919's suppliers are American and European and deliver equipment that has already been proven, including the Leap engines produced 50/50 between the French Safran and the American GE Aerospace.
"But it is the overall design and the work of integrating this device that we have to evaluate," says Florian Guillermet. A collaboration that seems to be going smoothly, according to him: "Comac is extremely proactive in its approach and exchanges all the information necessary to obtain the certification of the aircraft".
On the other hand, the EASA director confides that the Chinese aircraft manufacturer has not applied to have the C919 certified by the US Civil Aviation Authority (FAA), reflecting the geopolitical tensions between the two countries.
With Europe, Comac has therefore gone on the offensive, as evidenced by the intensification of exchanges with EASA since the end of 2023, once the Chinese certification was in the pocket.
The links between the two players are based on an agreement signed in 2019 between the European Union (EU) and China, known as BASA ("Bilateral Aviation Safety Agreement").
"It is based on a principle of mutual recognition, as between EASA and the FAA," explains Florian Guillermet. But the agreement with China was created in an asymmetrical way in that we are still in a phase of building mutual trust." This approach is made necessary by China's lower level of industrial maturity compared to Europe in terms of aeronautics.
In the current scenario of tariff war, COMAC could opt for European replacements for critical American-sourced aircraft systems. Safran, already a major participant in COMAC’s existing supply chain, could come forward to substitute wheels, brakes, and possibly even auxiliary power units currently sourced from Honeywell.
Safran’s extensive aviation credentials and EASA familiarity would expedite the certification process. Thales would likely step in to replace core avionics components and navigation systems traditionally sourced from Collins Aerospace and GE Aviation.
Given Thales’ broad aerospace and defense expertise, this transition would also be eased by existing regulatory frameworks in Europe.
For the propulsion domain, while China continues to push the development of the CJ-1000A for the C919, COMAC may still consider interim measures involving European engines from Safran or Rolls-Royce, particularly if the CJ-1000A’s full EASA certification faces delays or difficulties.
For the upcoming CR929 widebody planes, Rolls-Royce engines, such as the Trent 7000 series, would be strategically appealing as a non-American option capable of immediate global market acceptance.
Understandably, EASA cannot grant Comac the same ease of obtaining certification as with Boeing. If the Chinese aircraft manufacturer is accelerating the tempo, it is because it wants nothing more than to export its aircraft, which is in service in China and a few other nearby countries.
"The green light from EASA will potentially allow the C919, as with every aircraft, to expand its market outside Europe, particularly in Africa and Asia," admits Florian Guillermet.
" This political and commercial logic is undeniably at work. EASA certification, for any product, has an international, and therefore commercial, value."
Unlike Ryanair's recent desire to go for the COMAC, Lufthansa is not in the run to acquire this Chinese aircraft but for the time being, the C919 has accumulated a thousand orders, according to data from the British firm Cirium. This represents about 10% of total medium-haul orders worldwide, all aircraft manufacturers combined.
While it is not yet overshadowing the A320neo and 737 MAX, its deliveries are taking off: after delivering a first example of its single-aisle aircraft in 2022 from its Shanghai plant, Comac has delivered two aircraft in 2023 and 13 in 2024, according to Cirium.
The aircraft manufacturer is officially targeting 30 deliveries of its aircraft in 2025 and hopes to gradually increase to a rate of 150 aircraft per year within about five years.
However, COMAC would pursue a careful and deliberate certification strategy emphasizing cooperation with EASA. Given the increasingly unlikely prospect of FAA approval under ongoing U.S.-China tensions and the FAA regulatory capture by Boeing, EASA certification becomes pivotal.
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