Vietnam’s VietJet has just become the most significant international customer for China’s state-owned planemaker COMAC, signing a lease deal for 10 C909 regional jets on 16 April 2026.
It’s a small order in global terms, but a big symbolic win for the only aircraft programme seen as a serious challenger to the Boeing-Airbus duopoly.
The Vietnam deal that put COMAC on the map
VietJet signed the lease during Vietnamese President To Lam’s state visit to China, with the aircraft coming through SPDB Financial Leasing, a subsidiary of Shanghai Pudong Development Bank, according to Aerotime.
The C909 is COMAC’s smaller regional jet — a roughly 90-seater similar in size to an Embraer E-jet — not the bigger C919 that goes head-to-head with the Boeing 737 and Airbus A320.
VietJet plans to deploy the jets on five new Vietnam-China routes:
- Hanoi to Hangzhou
- Hanoi to Enshi
- Hanoi to Huangshan
- Ho Chi Minh City to Guilin
- Ho Chi Minh City to Huangshan
Two of those routes, Hanoi-Enshi and Ho Chi Minh City-Guilin have already been flying since early April 2026.
Why Boeing and Airbus aren’t panicking yet
COMAC has over 1,000 orders for the C919 on the books but has delivered only around 35 of them so far, all to Chinese carriers, according to aviation consultancy IBA.
Boeing and Airbus deliver over a thousand jets every year.
The bigger barrier is certification. The European Union Aviation Safety Agency has signalled that full validation of the C919 is unlikely before 2028 and could slip as far as 2031, meaning European airlines can’t realistically fly the jet for at least another two years.
There’s also a supply-chain catch: around 40% of the C919’s parts — including its CFM LEAP-1C engines — still come from Western suppliers, leaving COMAC exposed to export controls if geopolitical tensions escalate.
The real story isn’t that COMAC is replacing the big two; it’s that Boeing and Airbus are sold out of narrowbody jets well into the 2030s, leaving a gap that COMAC is slowly starting to fill in Asia.
When you might actually board one
If you’re flying between Vietnam and China later in 2026, you may well end up on a COMAC C909 as VietJet phases the jets in on its new regional routes.
Elsewhere in Asia, COMAC aircraft are flying in a handful of markets including Laos (Lao Airlines) and Indonesia (TransNusa), and previously operated on domestic Vietnamese routes through short-term wet-lease deals, per Skift.
For travellers in the Middle East, Europe or the Americas, it will be years before a COMAC jet shows up in your booking.
Gulf carriers haven’t placed orders, and without US or European certification the C919 simply can’t fly to those regions.
The short version: the duopoly is intact for now, but the VietJet deal shows the door is cracking open and a Chinese-made jet in your itinerary may not stay a hypothetical for long.
Sources
- Bloomberg — VietJet Signs Lease Deal for 10 China-Made Comac C909 Planes
- Skift — China’s Comac Lands Its Most Significant International Customer Yet
- Aerotime — VietJet signs lease agreement for 10 COMAC C909 aircraft
- Aviation A2Z — VietJet Leases 10 COMAC C909, 5 New Routes
- Aviation Week — China’s Airlines Expect 33 Comac C919 Deliveries In 2026
- IBA Group — COMAC Aircraft Programmes Status and Outlook
- South China Morning Post — Comac ramps up challenge to Boeing and Airbus with plans to boost C919 production capacity
- Wikipedia — Comac C909 specifications and operators
- Airport Spotting — Which Airlines Fly the COMAC C909 in 2026
Disclaimer: Wego strives to ensure all information presented in this article is accurate and up to date at the time of publication. Travel policies, prices, visa requirements, and conditions can change rapidly. We strongly recommend verifying critical details with official sources before making travel decisions. Wego does not accept liability for any inaccuracies, oversights, or changes that may occur after publication.
