China’s C919 jet gets R&D lift as Comac, HKUST agree to personnel partnership

The manufacturer of China’s C919 has finalised a partnership with a Hong Kong university in a move expected to aid the jet’s development

China’s C919 passenger plane

Frank Chenin Shanghai

Published: 5:31pm, 21 Aug 2024

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China’s premier aircraft manufacturer has teamed up with a leading research university in Hong Kong to draw on the city’s international talent pool – an invaluable resource as the company begins to spin up production of its home-grown aircraft to meet a surge in demand.

The state-owned Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China (Comac) entered into an agreement on personnel exchange and training with the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) on Monday.

Green aviation and sustainable development will be the focus of the venture, as well as interdisciplinary collaboration in artificial intelligence, data science and applied mathematics.

Both parties will also take part in specialist exchanges, with a group of Comac technicians set to train in Hong Kong.

Zhang Xin, the Swire professor of aerospace engineering at HKUST, said the deal with Comac spans many disciplines with potential applications for aircraft design and manufacture.

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“HKUST’s manifold expertise in engineering is sought after and the deal encompasses a broad range of subjects, more than just aircraft engineering,” said Zhang, formerly Airbus professor of aircraft engineering at the University of Southampton in Britain.

“Hong Kong’s international talent pool, which comprises top experts with Western qualification, experience and exposure, can benefit China’s science and technology endeavours and leading mainland manufacturers … professionals from both Hong Kong and the mainland can compare notes during training and personnel exchanges.”

The partnership comes as Comac is seeking new relationships to upgrade the technology and manufacturing process for its C919 – China’s first indigenous narrowbody jet and a competitor to Boeing’s 737 and Airbus’s A320 – which is on the cusp of mass production, with work under way for a second assembly plant in Shanghai.

The company is also pooling internal and external resources for the design of future planes, including the widebody C929 and C939 models.

Comac president He Dongfeng visited HKUST’s aerodynamics and acoustics facility in February, touring wind tunnels and acoustic testing laboratories.

“As a world-class research-focused university, HKUST is dedicated to advancing research and knowledge transfer through collaboration with industrial partners for the benefit of society,” the university said in a statement. Comac and HKUST will “jointly conduct” research and “apply the outcomes” to the national development of civil aviation, it added.

This is not the manufacturer’s first collaboration with Hong Kong academia. In March 2023, Comac tapped the Hong Kong Polytechnic University for a separate programme on aviation engineering, with an emphasis on digital applications.

In June, the C919 completed its maiden commercial flight outside mainland China when it carried Hong Kong college students to Shanghai. And late last year, the plane was flown over the city’s Central district and Victoria Harbour in a trip intended to burnish its international profile.

“Hong Kong, one of the world’s busiest aviation gateways, can be a launch pad for the C919 as it seeks overseas certification and orders,” Zhang said.

“The city’s aircraft servicing and maintenance industry, also among the best globally, has much to offer as Chinese planemakers and carriers seek a greater presence in this vital, lucrative sector.”