China’s first indigenously built passenger aircraft C919 is scheduled to make its maiden commercial flight on Sunday, a media report said on Friday.
State-owned China Eastern Airlines (CEA), the initial customer, will launch the plane’s first commercial flight on May 28 from Shanghai to Beijing, state-run CGTN TV reported.
The C919 is developed by the Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China (COMAC), and it was granted a type certificate by the Civil Aviation Administration of China last September.
CEA conducted a 100-hour verification flight for its first C919 aircraft on December 26, 2022, to verify and confirm the aircraft’s operational safety.
So far, over 1,200 C919 jetliners have been ordered, according to COMAC.
According to estimates, China had 6,795 civil aircraft in 2020, mostly that of Boeing and Airbus.
Officials say the entry of Chinese aircraft could reduce the reliance on Boeing and Airbus and could pose a competition to them in the international civil aviation market.
