On Friday, China Eastern Airlines received the world’s first C919, a narrow-body jet made in China, and the aircraft took off for a 15-minute flight to commemorate the historic event.
According to the state-owned Xinhua News Agency, the plane, which competes with the single-aisle jet families of the Airbus A320neo and Boeing 737 MAX, is anticipated to make its first commercial flight in the spring of next year.
In September, it was approved for safe operation, and in November, it went into mass production.
The plane with 164 seats that was delivered to China Eastern was painted with the words “the world’s first C919” written in both Chinese and English on its side. According to industry sources, its inaugural route will be between Shanghai and Beijing, the capital.
According to Shanghai’s The Paper, China Eastern stated on Friday that it expects to receive the remaining four orders from its initial batch of C919s within the next two years. This contrasts with earlier plans to acquire all four the following year.
The carrier didn’t answer promptly to a solicitation for input.
China’s ambitions for narrowbody jets have grown over the past few years as trade and technology-related disputes with the United States raised concerns about China becoming overly dependent on Airbus and Boeing.
Business Flying Corp of China (COMAC) is supposed to create around 25 C919s each year by 2030, far lower than the ongoing month to month paces of narrowbody creation at its adversaries, as per Jefferies investigators.
COMAC didn’t quickly answer the solicitation for input.
At the moment, the C919 heavily relies on Western components from companies like GE, Safran, and Honeywell International, such as flight control systems and engines.
An alternative engine known as the CJ-1000A is currently in development, and China is attempting to increase the proportion of domestic components in the C919.