Comac’s Indonesian launch partner goes with Airbus for first jet

A new budget carrier meant to be the first international customer for China’s homegrown passenger jet is going with Airbus SE for its first plane, the carrier’s website shows. Indonesian low-cost carrier PT TransNusa Aviation Mandiri may eventually have as many as six Airbus jets in its fleet, with a second due to arrive next month, a person familiar with the matter said, declining to be identified because the information is private. China Aircraft Leasing Group Holdings Ltd. -- a shareholder of TransNusa -- said in January last year that it would provide the Indonesian carrier with 30 of state-backed planemaker Commercial Aircraft Corp. of China’s ARJ21 single-aisle jets, making the Kupang, East Nusa Tenggara-based airline the first outside China to fly the company’s planes. TransNusa Vice Chairman Leo Budiman said in an interview last year that the airline was hoping to start receiving deliveries of ARJ21 jets as early as 2022. Commercial Aircraft Corp. of China is more commonly known as Comac. That TransNusa has gone with Airbus for its first jet and not Comac is another setback for the Chinese jet manufacturer with ambitions to take on the duopoly enjoyed by Airbus and Boeing Co. Although Comac is an integral part of the country’s “Made in China 2025” program to reduce its reliance on critical technology imports -- everything from semiconductors to satellites -- by 2025, its progress has been patchy.<br/>