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COMAC launched Asia-Pacific office in Singapore on Monday

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COMAC Hong Kong customer centre opened on Wednesday

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Hong Kong airport to support C919 flight operations

(Adds bullets, Hong Kong airport C919 agreement in paragraph 5)

By Lisa Barrington

SEOUL, Oct 31 (Reuters) - Chinese planemaker COMAC said

on Thursday it has opened an office in Hong Kong - its second

outside mainland China this week - and has signed a deal to

support flight operations there as it tries to break into the

global passenger jet market.

COMAC's two commercial passenger planes are, with the

exception of one Indonesian airline, all flown within China. The

state-owned company wants to expand abroad at a time when Airbus

and Boeing ( BA ) are struggling to make planes fast

enough to meet demand.

The launch of the Hong Kong Office follows the opening of

COMAC's Asia-Pacific office in Singapore on Monday and the

company quoted Li Ling, COMAC deputy general manager, as saying

the Hong Kong office was an important step in the planemaker's

international strategy.

Hong Kong is a special administrative region of China with

its own civil aviation regulator. No COMAC planes currently fly

to the city or have been ordered by Hong Kong-based airlines,

although two C919 demonstration flights flew there over the past

year.

Hong Kong's airport authority has agreed to support

international flight operations for COMAC's C919 narrow-body

passenger plane.

COMAC also agreed on Wednesday to expand existing

business ties with Hong Kong-based aircraft maintenance group

HAECO to collaborate on airframe, engine and component services

for COMAC's domestic and international customers.

HAECO is owned by Hong Kong conglomerate Swire Pacific ( SWRAF )

, the biggest shareholder in Cathay Pacific Airways ( CPCAF )

.

COMAC has stepped up plans for production and sales of the

C919, which competes with Boeing's ( BA ) 737 MAX and Airbus' A320neo

jet families. It also has plans for larger, wide-body designs.

Industry sources say COMAC is a long way from making inroads

internationally, especially without benchmark certifications

from the European Union, which it is pursuing for the C919, or

from the United States.

COMAC opened a U.S. office in 2010 and a Paris office in

2011 during earlier pushes for international certification and

cooperation. Their current status is unclear.