Is China’s Comac making its way to Nigeria? Nigeria’s Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) is mulling plans to tap Chinese planemaker Comac for its narrow-body C919 jet to power Nigerian carriers’ expansion, NCAA Director General Chris Ona Najomo told Reuters on Sunday. NCAA is currently looking into certifying Comac’s C919 jets, and is already in talks with the Chinese manufacturer for a potential leasing agreement — in which the planemaker has offered maintenance services for any jets operated by Nigerian carriers.

This comes as the Chinese planemaker continues to struggle for a bigger global market share next to the US’ Boeing and European planemaker Airbus — especially amid local and global headwinds facing the Chinese planemaker. For example, Chinese airlines were reported to be planning orders for Boeing and Airbus aircraft, which will reportedly complicate Comac’s sales of its C919 aircraft — a model expected to be on par with Boeing’s 737 and Airbus’s A320 narrowbody models. The US also suspended licenses that allowed US firms to sell parts and tech services to Comac for its C919 jets.

But Comac is slowly building a customer base. Air Cambodia inked an MoU with Comac for an order of 10 C909 Comac jets, with an option to acquire 10 more, Reuters reported earlier this month. The company also secured agreements to deliver new jets catering to domestic flights in Southeast Asia — including for Indonesia, Vietnam’s Vietjet, and Laos’ Lao Airlines.

Tags: