China's first home-made big passenger plane may debut this year

Photo taken on Feb 29, 2016 shows a test bench for C919 plane at its research base in Shanghai Aircraft Design And Research Institute of the Commercial Aircraft Corp of China (COMAC), in Shanghai. [Photo/Xinhua]

China's first domestically produced large passenger aircraft, C919, is to make its maiden flight in the second half of this year, Chinese Flight Test Establishment told Xinhua-affiliated business newspaper Economic Information Daily on Monday.

However the Commercial Aircraft Cooperation of China (COMAC), the maker of C919, told the media later the jet is still being tested, and its maiden flight could be postponed till next year.

C919 is expected to strengthen China's capacity in high-end equipment manufacturing and make the country a real manufacturing power.

Twenty-one foreign and domestic customers have already placed 517 orders for the jet.

According to a report released by COMAC, the potential market of C919 is worth more than 650 billion yuan ($100 billion).