Airbus faces a major setback in its exports to China, with the C919 becoming the focal point of their strategic confrontation—Beijing has now made up its mind!
Bloomberg reported on May 27, citing informed sources, that Chinese authorities have been deliberately delaying approval for Airbus aircraft deliveries over the past few months. This final regulatory clearance is required before an aircraft can enter China and begin commercial operations.
The article suggests that the prolonged hesitation by China’s aviation regulators is intended as leverage against Europe, pushing them to accelerate the certification process for the domestically produced C919. Data shows that Airbus delivered the lowest number of commercial aircraft in the first quarter of this year since 2009. The company itself admitted that nearly 20 planes originally scheduled for delivery to China are stuck at the final stage, due to an “administrative procedure.”
According to statistics from aviation data firm Cirium, Airbus delivered only 16 aircraft to Chinese airlines in the first five months of this year—down sharply from 47 during the same period last year, a drop of two-thirds. Outside Airbus’s factory in Toulouse, France, rows of brand-new A320 passenger jets sit idling on tarmac under the sun, resembling open-air inventory.
At Airbus’s April earnings conference call, the chief financial officer revealed that delays in deliveries to China have caused the company to accumulate around €500 million in unsold inventory. This substantial asset sits idle, generating daily costs.
While Airbus aircraft are being held up in China, the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) is slowly advancing its certification process for the C919. In November 2025, two EASA test pilots took off from Shanghai Pudong Airport to conduct flight tests on the C919. Aside from some minor initial issues requiring fine-tuning, EASA judged the aircraft to be “well-performing and reliably safe.”
This flight test was part of the third phase in EASA’s four-stage certification process. While progress is steady, EASA has yet to provide a concrete timeline for issuing the formal airworthiness certificate.
The C919 submitted its airworthiness certification application to EASA back in 2019—now several years have passed, yet European officials still haven’t set a clear schedule. While reaping profits from the Chinese market, they’ve dragged their feet on allowing Chinese aircraft to go global. Beijing can no longer tolerate this situation.
Original source: toutiao.com/article/1866507889290240/
Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article are those of the author(s) alone.