China’s answer to Boeing and Airbus makes first international flight — could COMAC challenge the aviation duopoly?

A Commercial Aircraft Corp. of China (Comac) C919 aircraft under assembly at the Comac Shanghai Research and Development Center on May 4, 2017.Bloomberg | Bloomberg | Getty ImagesChina's homegrown C919 passenger jet departed on its first scheduled international commercial flight Wednesday, marking a milestone in Beijing's push to develop an alternative to Boeing and Airbus. The Air China-operated jet took off from Beijing Capital International Airport bound for Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, just after 3:00 p.m. local time (3:00 a.m. ET), according to FlightRadar24. It marks the first time the narrow-body aircraft has operated beyond Chinese territory. The Beijing-Ulaanbaatar service is set to operate daily, according to Air China. The flight marks another step in China's effort to establish the state-owned Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China, or COMAC, as a competitor in a global passenger aircraft market dominated by U.S.-based Boeing and Europe's Airbus. However, the C919 is still reliant on foreign components and has not received certification from major U.S. or European aviation regulators, limiting its ability to win customers in many overseas markets. Nevertheless, COMAC has in...