China Express Airlines has a made a deal with Comac (a Chinese state-owned aircraft manufacturer) for the purchase of 100 of their aircraft. The deal should see China Express Airlines take a mix of ARJ21s and C919s, but we don’t know how many of each. The ARJ21 is a small regional jet that carries between 70 and 90 passengers, powered by 2 General Electric CF34s. So far, it has been fairly successful, although only 27 aircraft are being operated. The current operators are: Chengdu Airlines (20 aircraft in service, 10 on order), the China Flight General Aviation Company (1 active), Genghis Khan Airlines (4 in service, 21 on order) and Jiangxi Air (2 in service, 33 on order). There also many more orders, including 35 from China Eastern Airlines and 35 from Air China. The C919 will carry around 170 passengers and has a total of 305 firm oders. This is good news for the Chinese aviation industry, but bad news for the European and American aviation industries. China is now the 3rd player in this market and with airline bankruptcies in the West soaring, it could be a dangerous threat to Boeing and Airbus. Please note that within aircraft in service are all the parked aircraft as well, so, for example, only 14 of Chengdu Airlines ARJ21s are out and flying, whereas 6 are parked, but I still considered all 20 aircraft as in service. 11th of June 2020.
Aeronews24 