ZHUHAI China (Reuters) - Chinese state-owned plane maker Commercial Aircraft Corp of China (COMAC) has signed an initial agreement to sell 30 of its C919 single-aisle commercial jets to the financial leasing arm of China Merchants Bank (SS:600036), a person with direct knowledge of the deal told Reuters on Tuesday.
The order, sealed at China's premier air industry trade show in Zhuhai, lifts COMAC's order book for the C919 to 430, mostly from domestic companies. Still in development, the C919 will be the first Chinese-built jet of its type, targeted at eventually competing with Boeing Co (N:BA) and Airbus Group NV (PA:AIR).
Financial terms of the order weren't disclosed.
China is keen to develop a successful commercial aircraft to prove it can match the United States and Europe. But it has been held back by inexperience, a shortage of local aerospace design and engineering talent, as well as a lack of home-grown companies with the technology to help drive the project.
But the first test flight for the C919 has now been pushed back to 2015 from 2014, a delay which gives Boeing and Airbus more time to deliver their upgraded 737 Max and A320neo aircraft respectively first.
(Reporting by Fang Yan and Matthew Miller; Editing by Kenneth Maxwell)