China's domestically-developed ARJ21 plane with medical workers on board prepares to take off at Chengdu Shuangliu International Airport in Chengdu, southwest China's Sichuan province, Feb 21, 2020. (LIU KUN/XINHUA)

BEIJING - China Express Airlines said on Wednesday it had signed a strategic partnership agreement with the Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China (COMAC) to buy a total of 100 ARJ21 and C919 passenger aircraft for delivery from 2020.

The Guizhou-based regional airline did not provide details of the number of each model it wanted to buy, but said the two sides needed to hammer out the contractual details later on, a corporate filing to the Shenzhen stock exchange showed.

The C919, China’s bid to break the Airbus and Boeing duopoly in the narrow-body passenger jet market, is still in the flight-testing phase and is expected to receive Chinese airworthiness certification next year

The planned purchases of the domestically-developed aircraft are a boost to state planemaker COMAC at a time when the coronavirus pandemic is devastating global travel demand, prompting many airlines to cancel or defer aircraft orders with top manufacturers Airbus and Boeing.

China Express and COMAC will also deepen cooperation on aircraft design and optimization, maintenance and services, and overseas market expansion, especially in countries that have signed up to China’s Belt and Road Initiative and African markets, the carrier said.

By the end of May, COMAC had delivered 25 ARJ21-700 regional jets, according to state media reports. The country’s three biggest state-owned airlines last year announced deals to each purchase 35 ARJ21 jets.

The C919, China’s bid to break the Airbus and Boeing duopoly in the narrow-body passenger jet market, is still in flight-testing phase. It is expected to receive Chinese airworthiness certification next year.

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