ICBC Financial Leasing Co. and Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China (COMAC) signed a contract for 45 C919 passenger aircraft Wednesday in Beijing, bringing total launch orders for the C919 jet to 145.

Currently, the aircraft totally has seven launch customers including Air China, China Southern Airlines, China Eastern Airlines, Hainan Airlines, CDB Leasing Company, GE Capital Aviation Services and ICBC Financial Leasing. ICBC Financial Leasing has become the largest launch customer with the 45-jet order.

At the beginning of this year, a COMAC official said that the C919 may attract 50 orders in 2011. COMAC's chief designer, Wu Guanghui, told reporters that the C919 may ink deals in October. ICBC Leasing's 45-jet order helps the plane maker approach its annual goal.

C919's join in is optimistically considered to break Airbus and Boeing's duopoly in the domestic and international aviation market, and the global "ABC" competition may come into being.

The COMAC C919 is a planned family of 168-190 seat narrow-body airliners designed and built in China. Its first flight is expected to take place in 2014, with deliveries scheduled for 2016.

COMAC said the Chinese-made C919 is expected to win more than 2,000 orders in the following two decades if everything goes smoothly.