Originally Posted by
apaul
Do the Chinese really need a Western customer? Surely they could build up production based on growing demand from Chinese carriers. And if they wanted a western customer to establish their image as not being cheap and nasty would Ryanair be the right choice?
For the C919, yes, they need a lot of Western customers. This aircraft is their big push into the world market - although the Chinese market is growing there's far more potential demand beyond the domestic market. I wouldn't say that they want a Western customer "to establish their image as not being cheap and nasty", rather that they want Western customers in order to prove that they have built an aircraft which is comparable (in terms of technology, reliability, performance, etc.) with Airbus/Boeing. Make no mistake, if Ryanair buys the aircraft (and as I said earlier, any such decision has to be at least a year or two away - this recent news announcement is "much ado about nothing" intended by Ryanair as much to put pressure on Boeing and their new-build 737-replacement as anything else), other Western carriers will follow.