Female Engineer Pioneers China's Bold Challenge to Boeing and Airbus in Widebody Airliners

Zhao Chunling has been lead designer for ambitious programme aimed at challenging Western duopoly since 2023

A woman engineer who earned her degree from a university in China has been hit with U.S. sanctions but is currently leading the C929 program focused on developing a domestically produced airliner comparable in sophistication and capacity to the wide-body aircraft manufactured by Boeing and Airbus.

After leaving her imprint on China’s extensive efforts to develop the C909 and C919 regional and narrow-body aircraft over several years, Zhao Chunling took up the role of lead designer for the bold wide-body jet program starting in 2023. This move came as Comac strives to close the gap with the dominant Western aerospace duo.

Zhao completed his studies at Northwestern Polytechnical University (NPU) in Xi'an, which is the capital city of Shaanxi Province, in 1991.

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The university is frequently included on United States sanctions lists for its close ties to China's military, with staff and students banned from buying or using American technology, including mathematical software.

Even with the sanctions in place, NPU has been involved in the creation of various weaponry, such as advanced fighter aircraft.

However, Zhao's professional journey did not directly take him into civil aviation engineering upon graduating in 1991.

Instead, she became part of an optoelectronics research institution in Luoyang, Henan province, which is affiliated with the Aerospace and Defense giant AVIC (Aviation Industry Corporation of China).

Over her 18-year tenure at the institution, she witnessed its evolution into a pivotal hub for defense technology research and development, focusing on areas such as aircraft engine controls and command systems, based on accessible data from Chinese sources. During this time, she advanced within the organization to attain the position of deputy chief designer.

The Luoyang institute manufactures electro-optical sensors and pods utilized by unmanned aerial vehicles and various aircraft for purposes of reconnaissance and surveillance. Additionally, they produce head-up displays, such as the one featured in the C919, as stated by the London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies.

Zhao became part of Comac in 2010, merely one year following its establishment in Shanghai with the aim to fulfill China’s ambitious goals for aircraft manufacturing.

According to a Xinhua report from last month, Zhao played a key role in the development, testing, and domestic certification of both the C909 and C919 aircraft. She spearheaded work on the avionics system for the C909 as well as an innovative cockpit layout designed with a darker, quieter ambiance aimed at enhancing pilot focus during critical situations.

For the C919, which is aiming to take market share from Boeing's 737 and Airbus' A320, Zhao spearheaded the design of a new display and crew alert system arguably more advanced than those in the bestselling Western plans, according to a Comac document.

In the initial stages of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, she headed a group comprising over 100 engineers who operated tirelessly day and night. Their mission was to compare the C919’s performance with global benchmarks, aiming to identify and eliminate any flaws in its design or production process.

The C919 embarked on its first commercial journey in May 2023.

As the chief architect of the C929, Zhao along with her team has completed the comprehensive design for China’s inaugural wide-body aircraft model, according to disclosures from official news outlets last month.

The C929 will accommodate as many as 440 passengers with a range of approximately 12,000 kilometers—comparable to flying from Shanghai to New York. Currently, prototypes are being developed, and domestic suppliers are expected to begin delivering major parts such as the initial mid-fuselage segment in 2027.

"Nominating an experienced technician as the head for the C929 project demonstrates COMAC’s strategy for smoothly transferring knowledge and assets to accelerate the creation of a Chinese rival to profitable Western wide-body aircraft such as the Boeing 787 Dreamliner,” noted someone familiar with the manufacturer. “The numerous designs and insights accumulated through the development of smaller planes can easily be utilized in the C929 program.”

During a sharing session with students from the fields of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics at Shanghai Jiao Tong University in December, Zhao provided an early look at the C929.

"The aircraft will boast superior aerodynamics and fuel efficiency, along with an advanced fly-by-wire system designed for even the harshest weather conditions. Additionally, it will include a thoughtful cabin layout aimed at enhancing passenger comfort during flights," she explained.

However, I need to keep in consideration the financial success and profit potential of the new model since our objective is to achieve high sales both domestically and internationally.

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Female Engineer Pioneers China's Bold Challenge to Boeing and Airbus in Widebody Airliners