Chinese-made jet engines are coming soon, predicts Rolls Royce chairman

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China will likely begin "manufacture engines for jumbo jets" soon, said Rolls Royce Chairman Ian Davis at the Singapore Summit over the weekend.

At present, Rolls Royce remains the second largest provider of commercial and defense aero-engine products and services in the world. In Davis’ opinion, China will join in the global competition of jet engines manufacturing, playing a more and more crucial role in the development of this industry.

"In the long-run, it's very possible and plausible that China and other countries will be looking to develop wide-body engines," said Davis. "It makes sense for industrialized countries to start doing so and we assume at some stage of the future that they will come in."

Reuters Photo

China has been making hard efforts to improve its capability of manufacturing aircraft engines independently for quite a long time.

In 2016, state-owned companies Commercial Aircraft Corp of China (COMAC) and Aviation Industrial Corporation of China (AICC), set up a 7.5-billion-US-dollar conglomerate named Aero Engine Corporation of China (AECC).

It is viewed as a key to the strategic steps towards making China an aviation superpower. And it is tasked to help China develop an aviation industry, which had been heavily relying on such engine providers as those from the US, Russia and European nations.

Reuters Photo

According to the CNBC report, the COMAC has already begun to develop a new narrow-body engine.

"It's a big growth market and I think the key, as always, is to make sure you've got competitive products that really offer something to customers," said Davis.