China-made commercial jet behind schedule: sources

Singapore

THE maiden flight of China's only homegrown commercial jet, the Comac C919, is behind schedule and delivery could be pushed back as much as two years, sources familiar with the programme have said, dealing a blow to its push to challenge Airbus and Boeing.

The narrow-body aircraft, which will be able to carry 156-168 passengers and aims to compete with the Airbus A320 and Boeing 737, was originally scheduled to fly by end-2015 but two sources said that it would be delayed to the first half of 2016. Delivery of the first plane, scheduled for 2018, is also likely to slip, perhaps to as late as 2020, the sources added.