China and Russia this week unveiled a large mock up of a wide-body jet the partners hope will one day rival similar aircraft from the Boeing Co. and Airbus.
The China-Russia Commercial Aircraft International Corp. Co. Ltd (CRAIC) is showing off a full-scale mockup of the cockpit and part of the passenger cabin of its CR929 at the Airshow China event in Zhuhai, China, marking the first public display of the static display piece.
The joint venture, which consists of Commercial Aircraft Corp. of China (Comac) and United Aircraft Corp. of Russia, is now in the process of selecting the main systems and equipment suppliers.
It expects that work to be finished by the end of next year, as the aircraft progresses toward a target entry into service in the latter half of the next decade.
While some industry observers have been skeptical of that timeline, whenever the CR929 does enter the market it will compete against Boeing’s (NYSE: BA) 787 Dreamliner and Airbus’ A350.
Both of the those jets represent work for Spirit AeroSystems Inc. (NYSE: SPR), which builds the complete forward fuselage of the 787 in Wichita and the center fuselage section of the A350 at its plant in Kinston, North Carolina.
The Russia-China jet is being designed to carry 280 passengers in a basic three-class layout of the CR929-600 model. Future plans call for a full family of aircraft to include a larger and smaller model.
It is expected that the fuselage of the new aircraft will be built by China, while the wings will be built by Russia.
According to a report from Reuters, the company said this week that it would seek supplier proposals from all over the world.
However, a company official declined to comment to the publication on whether current trade issues with the U.S. would impact those supplier selections.