With 20 orders, second deal in the week for Chinese C919

Sticking to an established trend another Mainland China carrier has placed an order with Commercial Aircraft Corp of China for 20 C919 aircraft, which is its second contract for the plane this week. Chinese entities tend to order in tandem.

The deal increases the size of the order book for the single-aisle aircraft to 165, Shanghai-based Comac said in a statement. The manufacturer had announced an order for 45 C919s from Industrial & Commercial Bank of China Ltd's leasing arm on 19 Oct.

The orders come after a year-long wait. State-owned Comac is trying to compete with single-aisle Boeing and Airbus models with its product. The aircraft design recently drew praise from ex-British Airways chief Willie Walsh, who mentioned that it would pose a potent threat to Boeing and Airbus models.

China will need as many as 5,000 new aircraft through 2030, of which 71 per cent will be narrow-body planes, Boeing said last month.

Existing customers for C919 include General Electric Co. (GE)'s leasing arm and China's three major airlines, Air China Ltd, China Southern Airlines Co. and China Eastern Airlines Corp.

Ryanair Holdings Plc, Europe's biggest low-cost carrier, said in June that it was exploring a requirement for at least 200 single- aisle jets with Comac.

The C919 is scheduled to make its debut flight in 2014 and enter series production two years later.

CFM International Inc, a GE-Safran SA venture, is set to supply the engines, while Honeywell International Inc, United Technologies Corp and Parker Hannifin Corp have agreed to provide other components.