--FILE--le premier des grands avions de transport de passagers C919 est remorqué d'un hangar au cours d'une cérémonie hors ligne à l'usine d'assemblage final de COMAC (Co
--FILE--China's first homemade large passenger jet C919 is being towed of a hangar during an offline ceremony at the final assembly plant of COMAC (Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China) in Pudong, Shanghai, China, 2 November 2015. Commercial Aircraft Corp of China Ltd (Comac) aims to conduct the first flight of its much-delayed C919 passenger jet around the end of 2016 to early 2017, people close to the aircraft programme said. The timing will allow engineers at the state-owned aerospace company to complete ground tests beforehand without undue haste, said the people, who were not authorized to speak with media on the matter and so declined to be identified. Comac's C919 represents China's attempt to challenge Airbus Group SE and Boeing Co in the market for narrow-body aircraft. It is scheduled to reach its first buyers in 2018 after a series of production delays pushed deliveries back four years, though industry observers expect delays into the 2020s. The company unveiled the airplane in November and said it had received 517 orders, mainly from Chinese lessors. However, the plane will not be airborne until around a year after its unveiling while Comac conducts ground tests.
