COMMERCIAL Aircraft Corp of China, also known as Comac, yesterday won an order for 30 C919 aircraft from the Bank of Communications' leasing arm, the third deal in about a month for the nation's first passenger jumbo jet.

The agreement has raised the order book for the 150-seat plane to 195, Shanghai-based Comac said yesterday. It gave no value for the latest contract.

The bank's leasing arm has registered capital of 4 billion yuan (US$629 million). It focuses mainly on aircraft and ship leasing.

Comac won 65 orders for C919s from the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China Leasing and Sichuan Airlines last month, boosting its efforts to challenge Boeing in the US and Airbus in Europe. It has also received firm orders for 100 of the jets from China's four biggest carriers - China Southern Airlines, China Eastern Airlines, Air China and Hainan Airlines - as well as China Development Bank Leasing and GE Capital Aviation Services.

China will need as many as 5,000 new aircraft up to 2030, of which 71 percent will be narrow-body planes, Boeing forecast.

The C919 is due to make its first flight in 2014 and enter service within two years, according to Comac.

"Output can be 150 jets per year by 2020," said Chen Jin, Comac's marketing director.

Source:shanghaidaily