Vietnam’s Civil Aviation Authority (CAAV) has conducted a detailed assessment of the COMAC C909 aircraft, as budget airline Vietjet Air has proposed introducing two of these Chinese-made planes into service in Vietnam.

CAAV’s technical assessment of the COMAC C909

From January 15 to January 24, a delegation from CAAV visited Shanghai, China, to inspect COMAC’s production facilities and meet with the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC). Their review covered aircraft design, safety standards, manufacturing processes, testing protocols, and maintenance procedures.

In a preliminary report submitted to the Ministry of Construction, CAAV confirmed that:

COMAC has been mass-producing the ARJ21-700 (C909), which has received both Type Certification (TC) and Production Certification from China’s aviation authority.

As of January 7, 2025, COMAC has delivered 160 C909 aircraft to 12 airlines, with 11 in China and 1 in Indonesia (TransNusa, since 2022).

The fleet has accumulated over 550,000 flight hours, conducted more than 330,000 takeoffs and landings, and transported over 19 million passengers worldwide.

Airlines operating the COMAC C909

The aircraft is currently in use by several major airlines, including:

China Southern Airlines (33 aircraft)

Air China (33 aircraft)

China Eastern Airlines (26 aircraft)

Chengdu Airlines (30 aircraft)

China Express Airlines (11 aircraft)

Jiangxi Air, Genghis Khan Airlines, and others

Beyond China, Indonesia’s TransNusa operates three C909 aircraft, marking the first international use of the model.

Safety and operational reliability

According to CAAV’s findings, there have been no major accidents or serious safety incidents involving the C909 since its commercial launch.

Key performance indicators from 2024 include:

Average daily flight hours per aircraft: 5.2 hours

Dispatch reliability: Over 99%

Total fleet flight time: 194,000 hours with 135,000 takeoffs and landings

Technical-related flight disruptions: 3.77 per 1,000 flights

Flight cancellations due to technical reasons: 0.97 per 1,000 flights

CAAV’s recommendation for integrating the C909 in Vietnam

Comparing Chinese CAAC aviation regulations with FAA (US) and EASA (EU) standards, CAAV suggested recognizing China’s aircraft design and manufacturing certifications to facilitate aircraft imports.

To enable the COMAC C909’s introduction in Vietnam, CAAV has proposed modifications to aviation business regulations, including:

Updating the Civil Aviation Safety Code to recognize China’s airworthiness certification.

Revising decrees on conditional business sectors to allow for the import of COMAC aircraft.

Once these regulatory changes are approved, CAAV will formally issue a Type Certificate (TC) recognition for the C909 aircraft in Vietnam.

At the Vietnam–China Business Forum on February 28, COMAC Board Member Dam Van Canh emphasized that strengthening Vietnam-China aviation cooperation remains a core strategy for the company.

He also confirmed that under the direction of the Ministry of Transport (now under the Ministry of Construction) and CAAV, COMAC and Vietjet Air have completed all necessary preparations for leasing and deploying the C909 in Vietnam.

N. Huyen