https://www.scmp.com/economy/china-economy/article/3315051/chinas-c929-widebody-passenger-jet-make-maiden-commercial-flight-2035-source first statement on commercial flight?

Exclusive | China’s C929 widebody jet to make maiden commercial flight by 2035: source

Comac manager tells partners at Paris Air Show that plane is expected to be certified domestically by 2032.

https://www.scmp.com/economy/china-economy/article/3314792/chinas-c929-jet-secures-western-tech-manufacturer-signs-parts-deals

https://www.reuters.com/business/aerospace-defense/comac-says-air-china-will-be-launch-customer-c929-widebody-jet-2024-11-12/ however

Liu did not disclose the number of aircraft that Beijing-based Air China would purchase or planned delivery dates.

https://aviationweek.com/air-transport/aircraft-propulsion/comac-starts-c929-launch-customer-selection

https://www.construction-physics.com/p/will-the-china-cycle-come-for-airbus has nothing on

C929 beyond a mention. C919 delays may or may not be repeated, but here's the article on those:

Like the ARJ21 (and like most aircraft development projects), the C919 has taken far longer to develop than anticipated. COMAC initially planned to have the first C919 flight in 2014 and the first commercial deliveries in 2016, but the project was repeatedly delayed (in 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, and 2019). Official sources haven’t provided much specific information on the delays (merely mentioning manufacturing problems or technology problems), but other sources point to issues with the large-scale integration of subsystems from different suppliers. In 2019, an anonymous source working with COMAC stated, “there are so many problems with integration, they don’t know where to start.” Other sources state that during testing “key structural components failed stress tests, requiring beefed-up fixes,” increasing the aircraft’s weight. 

COMAC also seems to have difficulty with lightweight composite materials, and reduced their usage from 20% of the aircraft to closer to 10%. More recent delays in the program seem to have been caused by more stringent US export controls on aerospace components that were put in place in 2020. The C919s first flight didn’t take place until 2017, and commercial deliveries didn’t begin until the end of 2022. As of September, COMAC has delivered 9 C919s, and three airlines have it in service.

Will the China Cycle Come for Airbus and Boeing?

Noah Smith, author of the economics Substack Noahpinion, often refers to a common trajectory in Chinese manufacturing as the “China Cycle”:

Wondering how long between first flight and commercial service? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comac#Aircraft_in_production_or_development

Here's the related question which I linked to but failed to embed previously:

https://www.scmp.com/economy/economic-indicators/article/3272330/here-are-chinas-4-commercial-jets-arj21-and-c919-jumbo-c929-and-c939 dated 2024-07-30 says:

Airlines could take deliveries of this model [C929] as soon as 2027.

Presumably "could" and "as soon as" are doing a lot of work, but I'd be happy to be wrong!

Here are the 4 civilian aircraft behind China’s sky-high aviation ambitions

The Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China has put two passenger planes in the air and has lofty ambitions for home-grown production.

Related market (first flight rather than commercial service) https://manifold.markets/JoshuaWilkes/before-which-year-will-the-comac-c9

https://www.scmp.com/economy/china-economy/article/3259340/china-rallies-aviation-brainpower-get-widebody-c929-ground-amp-airbus-and-boeing-competition

https://www.reuters.com/business/aerospace-defense/chinas-comac-wide-body-c929-jet-detailed-design-stage-official-says-2024-03-26/

In February Huarui Aero, the Chinese manufacturer selected by COMAC in 2021 to build the C929 fuselage, said the first "middle section of the fuselage" will be delivered in 2027, by Sept. 1.

https://simpleflying.com/tag/c929/