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As an aviation buff, I have been tracking the progress of the Comac C919 since before moving to Beijing early this year. In the past few months, work has progressed steadily on the twin-engine, single-aisle aircraft, and its maker, State-owned Commercial Aircraft Corp of China, or Comac, is preparing for test flights. With a capacity for up to 168 passengers, the C919 is the largest commercial aircraft developed by China. Some critics in the industry have speculated that the program is aimed at breaking the Boeing-Airbus duopoly in the lucrative narrow-body segment. Nothing could be further from the truth despite the fact that airplanes from Boeing's 737 and Airbus' A320 families have long dominated the single-aisle market, generating the most revenues for the two giants. Last month's confirmation by Boeing that it will team up with Comac to establish a completion center for the 737 in Zhoushan, Zhejiang province, lays bare the argument that there is a hidden agenda in the C919 program. If Comac had any ulterior motive, it would not have entered into an agreement with Boeing on a 737 final assembly line as the deal actually helps the US company ramp up production of the jet. Airbus, which set up its first completion center outside of Europe in Tianjin in 2008, is expanding the assembly line to include the A320neo (new engine option) from next year. Last month, aviation information provider Flightglobal forecast the delivery of nearly 27,000 single-aisle passenger aircraft over the next 20 years, a majority of them from the two manufacturers. | 
