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By Bjorn Fehrm

April 14, 2025, © Leeham News: The COMAC C919 is finding its first customers outside China. At the same time as COMAC has started work on shorter and longer versions of the C919, work on a widebody C929 has been going on for the last 14 years.

If the development of more family members for the single aisle C919 is straightforward, the widebody C929 development has presented several challenges.

Figure 1. The COMAC C929 widebody aircraft. Source: COMAC.

Summary:

• The C929 has been in development since 2011.
• The project was first delayed by Russia-China relations and recently by increasing tensions between China and the West.
• The latest problems are around the engines, as Western engines have become politically impossible.