This photo taken on March 13, 2024 shows commercial aircraft ARJ21 (R) and C919, manufactured by Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China, Ltd. (COMAC), on display at the Sultan Abdul Aziz Shah Airport in Selangor state, Malaysia. The static display and demonstration flight of the China-manufactured commercial aircraft ARJ21 and C919 were held here on Wednesday. Photo: Xinhua

China's first homemade large passenger aircraft C919 has received another major order from China's national carrier, a move that showcases not only the growing market for the aircraft but also the country's advanced manufacturing capabilities, observers said on Saturday.

Air China on Friday announced the purchase of 100 C919 jets from Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China (COMAC) in a deal worth $10.8 billion, with the aircraft to be delivered in batches from 2024 to 2031, the carrier said in a filing.  

Notably, this deal marks the second relatively large-scale order for the C919 following the previous order of 100 aircraft made by China Eastern Airlines in September 2023.

This order showed that the C919 will play a more important role in Air China's aircraft deployment, and reflects China's enhanced self-sufficiency in advanced science and technology represented by domestic large airplanes amid the increasingly complex global environment and the West's so-called decoupling, Wang Yanan, chief editor of Beijing-based Aerospace Knowledge magazine, told the Global Times on Saturday. 

Air China's purchase demonstrated the high anticipation and recognition for domestically-produced large aircraft and showed that China's high-end manufacturing industry is able to accurately grasp market demand, Wang Peng, an associate research fellow at the Beijing Academy of Social Sciences, told the Global Times on Saturday. 

China has also formed more complete industrial and supply chains in the high-end manufacturing sector, as the successful development and commercial operation of the C919 has incorporated various component and services suppliers, according to Wang Peng. 

Currently, more than 200 Chinese enterprises have become involved in research and development for C919 and corresponding products, with multiple firms directly participating in the manufacturing for products across different fields and some components achieving substitution for localization, according to media reports. 

The progress made by the C919 is a vivid display of China's continuous efforts in bolstering new quality productive forces, with domestic technology enterprises yielding fruitful results. As of Wednesday, 1,369 listed Chinese companies had disclosed their first-quarter results, with 1,144 reporting profits and 35 reporting net profits exceeding 1 billion yuan ($141 million). Technology-related companies demonstrated impressive financial results as China's economy steadily recovers and undergoes a deep transformation toward high-quality development.

In March, the C919 and ARJ21, another domestically built jet, made their debut in Malaysia, marking the last leg of the two aircraft's demonstration flight tour in Southeast Asia after Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia and Indonesia, the Xinhua News Agency reported.  

Even though the massive delivery of C919 will still take some time, the surging orders will help accelerate production efficiency, Wang Yanan said, adding that the growing share of C919 in domestic airlines will also affect the market landscape for competitive global manufacturers such as Boeing and Airbus to further expand in China. 

Meanwhile, the C919's future entry into the global market will help further drive major manufacturers to continuously innovate and improve product quality to meet constantly changing market demand worldwide, while COMAC and global suppliers and airlines could explore more cooperation potential that leads to new business opportunities and development space for the aviation sector, Wang Peng noted.