China's domestically produced large aircraft, the C919, is highly dependent on Western supply chains. Analysis points out that up to 90% of its parts rely on the United States and Western suppliers. Reuters revealed that the U.S. Commerce Department has slowed down its review of export licenses for aircraft parts shipped to China in recent weeks, turning it into a bargaining chip in trade negotiations with China. It also limits the number of parts export licenses issued to Chinese C919 manufacturer Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China (COMAC) to prevent the company from hoarding spare parts. Since COMAC cannot find an alternative source in the short term, the lagging delivery schedule may be delayed again.
According to reports from Reuters and the South China Morning Post, China is pushing for a domestically produced large aircraft, the C919, in an attempt to compete with Boeing and Airbus, but its mass production schedule may be hit hard again. Foreign media revealed that the United States has recently slowed down the approval process for China's export of civil aircraft parts to increase the bargaining chip in the US-China trade negotiations and prevent COMAC from hoarding parts in advance.
Analysts warn that because key components such as C919 engines, avionics and hydraulic systems are still highly dependent on imports, and no alternative sources can be found in the short term, the already lagging delivery schedule may be further delayed.
The U.S. Department of Commerce has slowed down the approval of export licenses for Chinese civil aircraft components in recent weeks. One of the measures is to prevent C919 manufacturer Comac from hoarding parts. U.S. officials are also reported to be interested in adjusting regulations to make it easier to restrict the export of aviation hydraulic oil.
In fact, COMAC’s C919 production capacity has already faced bottlenecks. The company has received more than 1,000 C919 orders from Chinese airlines, but only 15 were actually delivered last year, far below the target of 75; in the first quarter of 2026, only 3 were delivered.
Richard Aboulafia, managing director of AeroDynamic Advisory, a U.S. aerospace consultancy, pointed out that the U.S. supply slowdown has only occurred in recent weeks, so there have been almost no C919 deliveries in the past six months. I am afraid there are other problems with COMAC itself, and not all of them can be attributed to the latest export restrictions.
The other cover door of C919 is the engine. The LEAP-1C engine currently used by the C919 is supplied by CFM International, a joint venture between GE Aerospace of the United States and Safran Aircraft Engines of France.
Aviation analyst Li Hanming pointed out that GE Aerospace is currently more cautious about exporting aircraft engines to China. One of the reasons is that related products can also be supplied to Airbus and Boeing and can be sold at higher prices and lower costs. He believes that this is one of the reasons why CFM failed to reach an agreement with China during US President Trump’s visit to Beijing in May.
In addition to engines, COMAC still relies on imports for many key components such as avionics and hydraulic systems. Although China is accelerating the promotion of domestic substitution, including the CJ-1000A turbofan engine developed by China Aerospace Engine Group for use in the C919, as well as its own development of sealing materials, coatings, bolts and other parts, Aboulafia bluntly said that it will take a long time for these substitute products to mature.
However, Gao Zhikai, deputy director of the Globalization Think Tank, a Beijing-based think tank, holds a different view. He believes that U.S. export controls will force China to speed up the improvement of domestically produced components. In the long run, COMAC may not suffer major setbacks as a result. U.S. restrictions may eventually push China's aviation supply chain to become completely independent.
The more practical issue at hand is still production capacity. The C919 shoulders China's ambition to challenge Boeing and Airbus. However, when the order volume exceeds 1,000 aircraft, there is still a huge gap between the actual delivery volume and the target. Now that the United States is tightening the supply of key components, when the C919 can really significantly increase the mass production speed will become the next difficult problem for China's aviation manufacturing industry.
