SHANGHAI (Reuters) - U.S.-China trade tensions may have delayed the decision by China's state aircraft manufacturer to choose an engine supplier for the widebody jet programme CR929, the Greater China President of GE Aviation said on Thursday.
A decision on the engine selection is expected to take place in the second quarter next year, Xiang Weiming told reporters in a group interview on the sidelines of an aviation summit in Shanghai.
GE (N:GE) is competing with Rolls Royce (L:RR) to provide engines for the CR929 programme, co-developed by the Commercial Aircraft Corp of China (COMAC) and its Russian counterpart United Aircraft Corporation.
The Russian chief designer said last year that a decision on the engine selection was expected in the first half this year.
When asked about the delay, a COMAC spokeswoman said the CR929 is still in the process of preliminary designing, and did not provide other details.