Air China said recently that it would “absolutely” support a domestic challenger to Boeing and Airbus, Bloomberg reported, even as the company plans to reduce variety in its fleet and phase out certain models. The state-controlled Air China is the largest Chinese international carrier by market value and operates 200 Boeing and Airbus planes as part of its fleet.

One potential beneficiary will be Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China (Comac), a domestic manufacturer of passenger planes, which predicts sales of its C919 plane will exceed 2,000 within the next 20 years, with plans to receive 100 orders by the end of 2010. It is anticipated that China will buy 2,800 new planes over the next two decades, making it the fastest-growing global aviation market, and domestic air travel in China is expected to grow 10 per cent within the next year alone.