• Nigeria reviews COMAC’s C919, a potential challenger to Boeing and Airbus in Africa’s largest domestic market.
• The jet offers lower lease costs, but faces hurdles in reliability, maintenance, and Western regulatory acceptance.
• For now, the C919 is more bargaining chip than fleet game-changer, giving airlines leverage in lease negotiations.

Nigeria’s civil aviation authority is reviewing the certification of China’s C919 narrow-body jet for domestic airlines, according to a Reuters report. The move is seen as able to introduce the first non-Western-built single-aisle aircraft into the African commercial fleet. Built by the Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China (COMAC), the C919 seats between 158 and 192 passengers and is positioned directly against the Airbus A320 and Boeing 737 families that dominate African skies.

This would not be the first attempt by China to penetrate the continent’s aviation market. In the mid-2000s, the Xian MA60 turboprop was delivered to more than a dozen African carriers and military operators, including Air Zimbabwe, RwandAir, Kenya’s Fly540, and the air wings of Ghana, Eritrea and the Democratic Republic of Congo. But fleet sizes were small—typically two to four aircraft—and the program struggled. Shortages of parts and engines plagued operators, with Air Zimbabwe retiring its MA60s by 2015 and Fly540 returning its aircraft to lessors for similar reasons. Today, only a handful remain in passenger service, most having been converted to cargo, transferred to military roles, or parked. That experience underscored two recurring problems for Chinese aircraft abroad: weak after-sales support outside of China, and limited access to third-party financing and insurance without validation from U.S. or European regulators.

For now, Africa’s skies remain the preserve of Boeing and Airbus, which together account for more than 85 percent of the 550 Western-built commercial jets operated by African airlines. Brazil’s Embraer has carved out the regional jet market, with E-Jets and the new E2 flown by Royal Air Maroc, Airlink, Air Côte d’Ivoire and EgyptAir. Bombardier’s CRJs are fading, with barely 30 still active, but the Canadian company retains visibility through its business jets.

Nigeria is where COMAC hopes to shift the balance. The country is home to Africa’s largest domestic aviation market, with 13 scheduled carriers carrying roughly 17 million passengers annually. The Civil Aviation Authority’s director-general, Capt. Chris Najomo, has confirmed the agency is “studying the certification file” for the C919 and has asked COMAC to spell out how it intends to support maintenance and parts provisioning. Nigerian carriers rely almost entirely on leased aircraft, and improved compliance with the Cape Town Convention has raised the country’s Aviation Working Group rating, making lease deals easier to secure.

The timing is significant. At least four Nigerian airlines—Air Peace, Ibom Air, NG Eagle and United Nigeria—are actively seeking 20 to 30 newer-technology narrow-bodies to replace ageing 737 Classics and early A320s. Since 2022, lessors have already placed a dozen A320neo and 737 MAX aircraft into the country, with another eight due for delivery between 2025 and 2026. Any C919 deal would therefore have to be slotted into existing commitments and backed by investment in spares pools and simulator capacity, neither of which currently exists in West Africa.

On the ground, the infrastructure gap is clear. Nigeria has three Part-145 maintenance providers certified for A320, 737 and E-Jet line maintenance—2N-Technic in Lagos, Aero Contractors, and DANA Technic—but none has C919 tooling or data access. COMAC has proposed building a regional parts warehouse in Lagos or Abuja, training Nigerian engineers in Shanghai, and offering on-site technical support for the first five years. Those promises echo the MA60 sales pitch, and Nigerian regulators and financiers will expect binding commitments and independent oversight before treating them as credible.

The stakes go beyond commerce. Washington has already shown sensitivity to Chinese aerospace ambitions, and Nigerian approval of the C919 would carry geopolitical undertones. U.S. lessors and insurers, critical to the financing of African fleets, could face pressure to avoid exposure to COMAC equipment. That makes Nigeria a potential test case in the wider contest between Beijing and Washington for influence in global aviation markets.

For Nigerian airlines, the calculus is more pragmatic. Certifying the C919 gives them a bargaining chip in lease negotiations with Airbus and Boeing suppliers, potentially forcing down costs. Each stakeholder stands to benefit in different ways: airlines may extract better rates, regulators can demonstrate independence, and COMAC secures a symbolic foothold in Africa even if firm orders remain scarce. But until the C919 proves itself operationally, its role is more strategic than practical.

Performance will be critical. COMAC must prove the C919 can deliver dispatch reliability above 99 percent, close to the 99.5 to 99.7 percent achieved by the A320neo and 737 MAX. A gap of even a few tenths of a percent translates into significant lost revenue for carriers running high-utilization domestic routes. Cost could tilt the equation in COMAC’s favor: Chinese lessors are expected to offer lease rates 15 to 20 percent lower than those for Airbus or Boeing jets. For airlines that operate on wafer-thin margins, that discount could outweigh political hesitations—if, and only if, maintenance and insurance hurdles are overcome.

Looking ahead, the C919’s African prospects are likely to be gradual and uneven. Nigeria may be first, but other major hubs—Addis Ababa, Nairobi and Johannesburg—will be more cautious, given their dependence on interline partnerships with U.S. and European carriers that may resist non-EASA or FAA-validated aircraft. The likeliest path is for second-tier West African carriers to adopt the C919 first, particularly if COMAC follows through on promises to build local support capacity. Over the next decade, the jet may gain a modest foothold in Africa, but displacing Airbus and Boeing remains a distant prospect.

Idriss Linge