Over 800 companies from 33 countries around the world have gathered at the International Aviation and Space Salon MAKS 2019, which opened in Moscow on Wednesday. And China is a partner country of the event for the first time.

In total, about 20 Chinese companies presented their latest products at the Chinese pavilion, which covers 3,000 square meters. 

A superstar at the show is a full-scale mockup of a cockpit and passenger compartment of the CR929 – a wide-body aircraft jointly developed by China and Russia that is being presented for the first time.  

The design work is in full swing, and some production details are already known. 

"The final assembly of the aircraft will be in China, near Shanghai," Maksim Litvinov, chief designer of the Russian side of the project – United Aircraft Corporation, told CGTN.  

According to Litvinov, the Russian side is to produce wings, central wing boxes, pylons and flaps, while the Chinese side is in charge of the design and manufacturing of the body and empennage. 

They expect the CR929 to take to the skies in 2023 and the first batch to be delivered after 2025.  
The Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China (Comac) presented its C919 narrow-body airliner that aims to compete with the ill-fated Boeing 737 MAX and Airbus 320 NEO. 

Another major Chinese aircraft producer Avic displayed a model of the world's largest amphibious plane – the AG600, which took to the skies in 2018.  

LandSpace, China's first private space company, presented one of the world's most eco-friendly rocket engines – a liquid oxygen and liquid methane-based launcher.  

Xu Yawei, marketing director of LandSpace, said they expect it to be launched by the end of 2020 or the beginning of 2021. 

Other stars at the show 

Russia also showcased its top-notch products. It displayed its first narrow-body airliner since the breakup of the former Soviet Union in 1991 – the MS-21, which will enter serial production in 2021.  

What's more eye-catching is the Su-57 stealth fighter jet. Russian President Vladimir Putin and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan inspected it after jointly opening MAKS, and Erdogan confirmed Turkish interest in acquiring it.  

That comes after the U.S. blocked exports of its F-35 stealth fighter to Turkey. And Putin said Russia was happy to sell. 

The East is quickly catching up with the West 

There is no better example of how and in which direction the world is changing than the aviation and space industry. Until just recently, only the privileged few were able to keep the monopoly in those areas.

Now, countries like China, Russia and India are quickly narrowing the gap, aiming to erase it by the end of the 2020.  

The new Russian and Chinese passenger liners, joint airplane and helicopter projects, new private space companies in China and some breakthrough space technologies seen at the 2019 MAKS show how fast the change is happening.