A CHINESE planemaker yesterday emerged as a new rival to the world’s two existing dominant civil airliner manufacturers, Airbus and Boeing.

At an airshow in China, state-owned COMAC (Commercial Aircraft Corp of China) unveiled a 100 plane deal, ending a dearth of orders in the two years since it launched designs for the 150-seat C919. The single-aisle plane will compete with Boeing’s 737 and Airbus’ A320 series.

With a billion Chinese predicted to be flying for business and leisure early next decade, the country wants to reduce its reliance on foreign planes and foster a domestic industry, worthy of a country capable of putting a man in space.

However Airbus, which has a major wing manufacturing plant at Deeside, shrugged-off any suggestion of a new commercial threat, asking what the “big deal” was.

COMAC said the orders came from four Chinese airlines, which was no surprise given government encouragement for the project. The leasing arm of America’s General Electric will supply the C919 engines as part of a joint venture with France's Safran.

Officials did not give a value for the deal or break down the orders by airline, but a similar deal for Airbus or Boeing jets would be worth about $7bn at list prices. Analysts said China would have to work hard to woo foreign airlines.

The country is just one potential challenger for Airbus and Boeing with Russia, Brazil, Canada and Japan all working on designs of their own.

But Airbus signalled it would fight to maintain its position as the world's largest planemaker ahead of Boeing.

“We were born into competition 40 years ago and now we are number one. Frankly we are used to it. Where’s the big deal?,” Airbus’s top China executive Laurence Barron said.

Meanwhile, Airbus announced an order for two A330s and six A321s from TransAsia Airways yesterday.

The Taiwan airline says the eco- efficient aircraft, with wings made at Deeside, will meet demand on their mainland China and Asian routes.

The A330s will become the first widebody aircraft to join the airline's fleet.

Engine selections for both the A330s and the A321s will be made in the near future.

“This new aircraft order reflects the strong demand on our services to mainland China and the region," said Vincent Lin, chairman of TransAsia Airways.

“We will benefit from the high level of technical and operational commonality offered by the Airbus product line, with the A330s flying on our trunk routes and the A321s enabling us to develop further our network both to the mainland and around the region.”