A small Brazilian cargo and charter airline, Total Linhas Aereas, might be lining up an order for the COMAC C919, the Chinese competitor to the Airbus A320neo
and Boeing 737 Max
aircraft families.
Potential order for four C919s
According to a report by Reuters, Total Linhas Aereas, a Brazil
-based cargo and charter carrier, has been talking with the Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China ( Comac
) about an order for four C919 aircraft.
One of the airline’s executives will visit the Chinese planemaker in October to advance talks, the report added, noting that Silvio Costa Filho, the Ports and Airports Minister of Brazil, said that the government was aware of the carrier’s plans yet Total Linhas Aereas had no formal plan currently.
Photo: Duc Huy Nguyen | Shutterstock
The carrier told Reuters that it was forced to look for alternatives since Airbus
and 
Boeing
have sold out their A320neo and 737 MAX delivery slots until the next decade, while Embraer
did not offer a large enough aircraft type for the airline.
Currently, Total Linhas Aereas has eight aircraft in its fleet, namely one ATR 42-500, three Boeing 727
converted freighters, and four 737-400 converted freighters, with an average age of 29.4 years.
The 727s have an average age of 46.3 years, ch-aviation data showed. Meanwhile, the ATR 42-500, registered as PR-TTK, was being operated on behalf of Petrobras, the state-owned petroleum company, the site’s fleet records indicated.
Current C919 orders
The only firm orders that have been placed for the C919
have come from Chinese airlines and the country’s aircraft leasing companies.
Ch-aviation fleet records showed that COMAC’s backlog includes 680 aircraft, with the Chinese aircraft manufacturer having delivered 15 aircraft, including six testbeds utilized by COMAC.
Airline operators that already have C919s include China Eastern Airlines
(seven), 
Air China
(one), and China Southern Airlines (one).
Photo: China Eastern Airlines
On April 29, China Southern Airlines said that it had entered into an agreement with COMAC to purchase 100 C919s, becoming the last airline out of China’s big three to order 100 units of the Chinese-built aircraft.
The three carriers have 98, 104, and four C919s in their backlogs, respectively, with the remaining 474 aircraft currently not being assigned to any airline. However, ch-aviation data might not have taken into account China Southern Airlines’ agreement.
A Brunei-based startup airline, GallopAir, has also ordered the C919, as well as COMAC’s other jet, the ARJ21. In total, the carrier purchased 30 aircraft from COMAC, split between 15 ARJ21s and 15 C919s. The airline should launch operations by the end of the year with an ARJ21.
Fluctuating levels of flying
China Eastern Airlines took delivery of its first C919 in December 2022, introducing it into service in May 2023.
Since then, the airline has taken delivery of six more C919s, with the most recent delivery being on July 29.
However, the schedule data from the aviation analytics company Cirium showed that Chinese airlines have had a fluctuating schedule of flights that are operated by the type.
For example, in April, just before China Eastern Airlines took delivery of its sixth C919, the airline had scheduled 94 weekly departures with the type, which was the same as in March. Yet in May, the airline had 80 weekly departures with the C919.
During the following two months, China Eastern Airlines scheduled 104 and 126 weekly departures with the type, finishing off the summer with 154 weekly flights in August.
By September, China Eastern Airlines had reduced the number of weekly itineraries with the C919 to 146, with China Airlines now scheduling 22 weekly departures during the month.
In October, China Airlines and China Southern Airlines
have planned 28 weekly departures with the type each, while China Eastern Airlines should operate 154 weekly flights with the domestically built jet.
