After 14 years of development, the Chinese-made C919 made its first commercial flight with passengers on 28 May. China Eastern Airlines used China’s C919 narrow-body airliner to fly on a commercial route with the symbol number MU9191. The first passengers of the new plane took off from Shanghai Airport at 10:45 local time on Sunday and landed in Beijing at 13:10.The C919 is a project of the Commercial Aviation Corporation of China (COMAC) and is currently the largest passenger aircraft designed and built in China. According to the claims of the developers, the range of the aircraft is up to 5,555 km. The passenger aircraft used by China Eastern Airlines is in a configuration with two classes, business and economy, and can carry up to 164 passengers in this version.
More than a thousand aircraft orders received
The development of the C919 is part of a strategy to bring a new competitor to the two major airlines, US Boeing and European Airbus. The developers state that the new aircraft will be able to compete with the narrow-body Airbus A320neo and Boeing 737 MAX.
There is a long history before this successful commercial flight. COMAC Corporation began work on the aircraft project in 2008. The first test flight took place in 2017, but problems during certification caused the company to delay delivery of the aircraft. Flight clearance was not granted until 2022, and the first aircraft was delivered to China Eastern Airlines later that year.Despite past challenges, COMAC plans to increase production to 150 aircraft per year within five years. At the same time, according to company representatives, as of the beginning of 2023, they have received orders for more than a thousand aircraft from various airlines.
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