Boeing touts 737 Max as &#x27the safest plane,&#x27 states China&#x27s C919 is comparable to what&#x27s in the current market

SINGAPORE — Boeing touted its 737 Max plane as “the most secure plane” and explained China’s newest domestic jetliner Comac C919 is identical to offerings by Airbus and Boeing that are already in the industry.

Dave Schulte, Boeing’s commercial marketing managing director for Asia-Pacific acknowledged that the 737 Max 9 — which currently faces questions over a midair blowout — “is by far the most scrutinized plane in the globe, in the history of aviation.”

However, he insisted it was “the most secure airplane that can be out there currently.”

Speaking to media on the sidelines of the Singapore Airshow, Schulte reported he flew on the 737 Max aircraft with his spouse and children the previous week, and pointed out that the airplane was “quite total.”

A midflight blowout of a fuselage panel on a single of Boeing’s 737 Max 9 operated by Alaska Airways before this year raised worries about protection immediately after free bolts were identified throughout preliminary inspections. In January, Boeing recorded a decrease in aircraft orders and deliveries.

On Wednesday, Boeing introduced it will be changing the head of its 737 Max application.

Boeing did not provide any business planes to the Singapore Airshow. Rather, it is showcasing its protection capabilities, that includes a lot of of its fighter jets, like the B-52 Stratofortress which will take part in the U.S. Air Force aerial display.

The business also had a cabin display of its extensive-system 777X passenger airplane at the event, which it statements is the world’s premier twin-engine jet. But deliveries for the aircraft, anticipated from 2025, have been plagued with delays.

Without having Boeing’s commercial jets at the Singapore Airshow, all eyes had been on passenger planes by Airbus and China’s domestic jetliner Comac C919.

The Comac C919, which market specialists said could shake factors up for the lengthy-standing professional aviation business duopoly by Boeing and Airbus, is nevertheless in the early phases of moving into the race.

“It truly is continue to early days to know if Comac can shake up the duopoly. We are not probably to see a C919 abroad order of importance in the in close proximity to time period,” Brendan Sobie of Sobie Aviation instructed CNBC.

Comac on Tuesday signed a deal with China’s Tibet Airlines and finalized an buy for 40 C919 and 10 ARJ21 jets.

That exact working day, Henan Civil Aviation Enhancement and Investment Group, a Chinese point out-backed corporation, also signed a deal for 6 designs of the Comac ARJ21.

The ARJ21 jet is a small to medium selection turbofan aircraft which can fly shorter distances and is applied for regional flights.

The Business Aircraft Corporation of China (Comac) designed the slender-physique C919 to compete with Boeing’s 737 and the Airbus 320.

“It can be a similar sized airplane that both Boeing and Airbus make,” Boeing’s Schulte reported, adding that airlines in Southeast Asia may well take into account it. Even so, he warned that Comac will also have to get over provide disruptions comparable to individuals faced by the two Boeing and Airbus.

“But for certain, it truly is an airplane that is involved in our extensive phrase forecast,” Schulte stated, referring to the C919.

As the aviation and airline business moves on from the pandemic, a ramp-up in manufacturing by both equally Boeing and Airbus have pressured suppliers that are struggling to fulfill the escalating demand from customers for parts.

Christian Scherer, chief executive officer of Airbus’s aircraft industrial organization mentioned previously this week that Comac’s C919 is “not likely to rock the boat in individual.”

He mentioned the C919 “looks a bit like an Airbus slim human body,” while also noting the aircraft is “not really unique” from what Airbus and Boeing presently have.