Carrying the dream of generations of Chinese people, C919 has completed its maiden flight. ICBC Leasing has long been supporting the development of China’s large aircraft.

As a strategic partner of COMAC, ICBC Leasing signed purchase orders of 45 aircraft with COMAC as early as the development stage of C919 large passenger aircraft, becoming one of the most important customers of C919. In the 2015 Beijing Air Show, ICBC Leasing and COMAC signed the memorandum of understanding on procurement & leasing cooperation of C919 and ARJ21 aircraft with City Airways of Thailand, contributing to the first order of China-made large aircraft leasing project and providing full support for exporting C919 overseas. In the 2016 Zhuhai Air Show, ICBC Leasing and COMAC launched the Three-year Action Plan of Promoting the Development of China’s Large Aircraft Development with Air Finance. According to plan, the two parties would conduct extensive and profound cooperation in marketing mechanism, air finance solutions, aircraft development support, national policy survey and consultation, aircraft procurement and leasing mode to drive the global sale of China-made aircraft through leasing.

The procurement of China-made large aircraft is the historical responsibility of ICBC and ICBC Leasing, a strategic demand for serving the real economy and supporting the development of China’s aviation industry and equipment manufacturing industry, as well as a specific measure to strengthen the strategic cooperation with COMAC and support go-global of China-made aircraft.

Accompanying the maiden flight of C919 is Legacy650 business jet B-3293 of Embraer, which mainly served to monitor the status of C919 and take videos. It is jointly manufactured by Aviation Industry Corporation of China and Embraer in Harbin, ordered by ICBC Leasing and leased to Easternjet for operation.

In the future, ICBC Leasing will continue to support China-made large aircraft, and conduct profound cooperation in new orders, domestic and foreign market development as well as a full range of financial services.