Comac opens new Hong Kong office, signs jet supply-chain support deals

Commercial Aircraft Corp of China Ltd. opened a new Asia-Pacific office in Hong Kong and signed logistics agreements designed to help the manufacturer service China-made planes in the city and boost overseas sales of its C919 overseas.

Comac, as the planemaker is better known, signed tentative agreements Wednesday behind closed doors with Swire Pacific Ltd.'s aircraft maintenance business Haeco.

The deals related to the opening of a new office at Hong Kong International Airport that opened Wednesday, plus help with logistics and maintenance. The pact with Swire's Haeco business on airframe, engine and components is for future demand to maintain Comac jets, and will assist in building out supply chain support and an after-market network needed to underpin future C919 plane sales.

Bloomberg reported earlier about Comac's plans to set-up an international sales and support base to drive purchases of the C919, its would-be rival to Boeing Co. and Airbus SE single-aisle jets.

Still, Larry Culp, chief executive officer of engine maker GE Aerospace, told Bloomberg News in an interview this week that would take time for Comac to build out the supply chain necessary for it to make more C919s while securing the regional and global network to support future in-service aircraft.

Through a joint-venture with France's Safran SA, GE Aerospace produces CFM International Inc.-branded LEAP engines for the C919.