COMAC C919. Source: COMACChina's internally designed and developed passenger airliner, the COMAC C919, has passed high-speed taxiing tests in Shanghai, and has been cleared for it's maiden flight. After the successful 170 mile per hour runway test, the state-owned Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China (COMAC) jet received a flight permit from the Civil Aviation Administration of China to conduct the C919's first flight. China joins the United States, Canada, France, the United Kingdom, Russia, Germany and Brazil as the only countries who have developed and manufactured their own commercial airliner.

The COMAC C919, in development since 2008, is a family of 158 to 168-seat narrow-body twin-engine jets designed to compete in the market currently occupied by the Boeing 737, the Airbus A320 and the Russian-made Irkut MC-21. The dimensions of the C919 are similar to the Airbus A320, with a fuselage that measures 13 feet wide; 13 feet, 8 inches high; and 127 feet, 6 inches long. The aircraft has a standard range of 2,532 miles and a maximum payload rated at 45,000 pounds.

The C919 is expected to make its maiden flight by the end of May 2017. With 570 orders secured to date, COMAC plans to manufacture up to 2,300 C919 jets, with the first delivery taking place in 2020. The launch customer is scheduled to be China Eastern Airlines. COMAC is aiming to reach one-fifth of the global narrow-body market by 2035, but to date, almost all of the C919 orders are from Chinese carriers.