News
European Union safety agency could take six years to approve C919 for flying
May 1st 2025
The European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) will require three to six years to certify COMAC’s C919 jet, the agency’s executive director, Florian Guillermet, told France’s L’Usine Nouvelle this week. Read More » COMAC previously told investors it had hoped to obtain EASA certification this year. “As we informed them officially, the C919 cannot be certified in 2025. We should be certifying the C919 within three to six years,” Guillermet said. “COMAC is putting a lot of resources, commitment and technical means into this certification. I have no doubt it will succeed,” he added. C919 received Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) certification in 2022 and began commercial operations within China in 2023. EASA, which started working with COMAC four years ago, needs to validate the aircraft’s design and components and conduct test flights, Guillermet said. EASA certification is critical to COMAC’s marketing of the aircraft to non-Chinese carriers. Reuters has written non-Chinese lessors and airlines have consistently said they require the C919 to be validated by EASA before they lease or purchase the aircraft type.
