Chen Yingchun, the chief designer of the Chinese-Russian CR929 project, recently stated at the 2020 Zhejiang International Aerospace Industry Summit that demand for the aircraft is high.
According to him, there is a demand for 10 new widebody aircraft by 2045, with the CR929 alone expected to for 1000 new aircraft. That is, 10% of the market.
In addition, the CR929 could be responsible for completing the line of aircraft in target airlines in the market, with COMAC using the C919 and ARJ21 to attract new interested parties.
CRAIC is targeting to sell this plane to airlines in China and Russia, as well as trying to get customers in the Middle East for the C919 and CR929, such as Iran. To this end, the two companies participating in the project are committed to using as little Western technology as possible.
Meanwhile, the first commercial flight of the CR929 remains scheduled for some period between 2028 and 2029, and depends on the progress of the project, which may suffer delays due to the integration between companies from Russia and China.
The project is conducted by two state-owned companies in China and Russia, Comac and UAC, respectively. Final assembly of the aircraft will be done in Shanghai, due to the fuselage being produced in China. The aircraft's wings, empennage section and tail will be produced in Russia.
Previously, CRAIC announced that the new CR929 concept approaches the size of the A330-900neo, and will also need an even more powerful engine, with 78000 lbs of thrust, previously UAC estimated an engine of 71000 lbs for the aircraft.
Despite the larger size, the range estimate remains the same (for the CR929-600), 12000 km. According to CRAIC, this is enough to fulfill most long-haul routes, including flights from Asia to the United States.
The aircraft family will include stretched-body (CR929-700) and shorter-body (CR929-500) versions.
The aircraft is now 63,25 m (208 ft) long, UAC said. That's just 45 cm shorter than the A330-900neo, yet the fuselage width is almost 6 meters, larger than the competition and on par with the A350, a higher category aircraft.
