China is accelerating the construction of a domestic maintenance, repair, and overhaul (MRO) ecosystem for its home-grown narrowbody jets, as the country seeks to protect its commercially vital Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China (COMAC) programme from the supply chain disruptions that crippled its production targets in 2025.
In May 2026, Hong Kong Aircraft Engineering Company Limited (HAECO), one of the world’s most prominent aircraft servicing firms and a subsidiary of Hong Kong’s Swire Group, completed the first-ever landing gear overhaul of a COMAC C909 (AI) regional jet at its Xiamen facility, South China Morning Post flagged. Simultaneously, Sichuan Services Aero-engine Maintenance Company (SSAMC), a joint venture between Air China (CA) and CFM International, became China’s first Premier MRO provider for CFM LEAP engines — including the LEAP-1C that exclusively powers the COMAC C919.
Jason Zheng, an analyst with Shanghai-based aviation consultancy Airwefly, told the South China Morning Post that a wider network of support at home would give China’s indigenous planes a better chance of riding out global supply chain disruptions as operators ratchet up flight operations. 
Photo: Shimin GU | Wikimedia Commons
HAECO Completes First C909 Landing Gear Overhaul, Extends Its COMAC Footprint
HAECO’s completion of the first-ever C909 landing gear overhaul at its Xiamen facility marked a concrete milestone in the expansion of China’s COMAC support infrastructure. The work was carried out by HAECO Landing Gear Services in Xiamen, in partnership with Liebherr-Aerospace, a German-Swiss multinational that supplies hydraulic landing gear systems and related components. Eplaneai.com reported that the project was initiated in 2025 with a focus on capability building and process optimisation, culminating in 2026 with joint final acceptance testing by Liebherr.
In July 2025, HAECO had formalised its relationship with Liebherr-Aerospace through a comprehensive component maintenance agreement covering hydraulic component repair and overhaul services for both the C909 and the larger C919. HAECO and COMAC had earlier, in the preceding year, also signed a broader airframe, engine and component services contract to jointly deliver comprehensive support across COMAC’s domestic and international customer base. The Xiamen landing gear milestone represents the first tangible delivery under that framework.
With this milestone, airlines in China and emerging markets such as Indonesia, Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia now gain access to efficient, localised maintenance solutions designed to maximise fleet availability and extend service life. This is no trivial consideration for operators in those markets, given that the C909 is the first Chinese aircraft operating commercial flights across Southeast Asia and central Asia.
HAECO Engine Services Xiamen is A Growing Hub for C909 Powerplant Maintenance
HAECO’s MRO footprint in Xiamen extends beyond landing gear. Aviation Week reported that HAECO Engine Services (HES) in Xiamen — the sole GE Branded Services Agreement holder for the GE Aerospace CF34-10A engine in the greater China region — completed and delivered its first CF34-10A engine overhaul to Chengdu Airlines on April 28, 2026. The CF34-10A is the primary powerplant for the COMAC C909.
The achievement followed regulatory approvals granted earlier in 2026 by both the United States Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and China’s Civil Aviation Administration (CAAC), enabling HES to officially add CF34-10A engine capability to its growing engine services portfolio. Beyond full shop-visit overhauls, HAECO also plans to provide on-wing and near-wing support services for CF34-10A operators, with spare engine lease support expected to follow.
To support the growing demand, HAECO is constructing a new 10,015-square-metre facility adjacent to its existing Phase 2 operation in Xiame. It is scheduled to open by the fourth quarter of 2026. The facility will support the overhaul, testing, and repair of additional engine types, including the CF34-10A, the GE90, the GE9X, and the Engine Alliance GP7200. HAECO’s Chief Executive Gerald Steinhoff told Aviation Week that the company is also working to develop capabilities on the CFM LEAP engine, citing “exploding” demand forecasted in Aviation Week’s 2026 Commercial Fleet and MRO Forecast.
SSAMC: China’s First LEAP-1C Premier MRO Provider
The most strategically significant MRO announcement for the C919 programme arrived in late May 2026, when Avitrader confirmed that SSAMC — the Chengdu-based joint venture between Air China and CFM International — became China’s first Premier MRO provider for CFM LEAP engines and the first facility in the country authorised to maintain the LEAP-1C engines powering the COMAC C919. The designation also covers the LEAP-1A and LEAP-1B engines used on Airbus A320neo family aircraft and Boeing 737 MAX jets, making SSAMC a comprehensive narrowbody engine MRO hub for China’s entire single-aisle fleet.
SSAMC itself has a long history as a CFM56 overhaul centre. CFM’s own corporate history records that the joint venture inducted its first CFM56 engine in April 2000 and over the subsequent two decades became a world-class engine MRO provider.
Delivery Delays In 2026 Reinforce the Case for Domestic MRO
Even after the US lifted the engine export ban, the C919’s production and delivery trajectory has not recovered to the levels China originally projected. South China Morning Post reported in April 2026 that only three C919s were delivered in the first quarter of 2026 — two to China Southern Airlines (CZ) and one to Air China — with no shipment at all in January. At the time of reporting, 35 C919s had been delivered in total since the programme began in December 2022.
Jason Zheng told the Post:
“It could again be C919s sitting with their wings bare — the CFM Leading Edge Aviation Propulsion (LEAP) engines are not arriving.”
Aviation Week confirmed that China’s Big Three carriers collectively anticipate 33 C919 deliveries in 2026, more than doubling the 15 received in 2025. However, independent consultancy IBA forecasts a more conservative 25 deliveries in 2026, rising to approximately 45 in 2027.
