On May 28th, it was announced that today marks the first year of commercial operation for the C919 by China Eastern Airlines.
On May 28, 2023, China Eastern Airlines operated the world's first C919 aircraft, flight MU9191, from Shanghai Hongqiao to Beijing Capital, successfully completing the global debut commercial passenger flight for this aircraft model.
This marks the comprehensive integration of the C919's "research and development, manufacturing, certification, and operation," officially signaling the start of China's commercial operation of domestically produced large aircraft.
According to the official WeChat account "Large Aircraft" of Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China (COMAC), as of May 27 this year, five C919 aircraft from China Eastern Airlines have operated a total of 2181 flights on the first day of operation and subsequent routes including Shanghai Hongqiao-Chengdu Tianfu, Shanghai Hongqiao-Beijing Daxing, and Shanghai Hongqiao-Xi'an Xianyang.
The total commercial flight time amounts to 6090 hours, carrying over 276,000 passengers.
Currently, China Eastern Airlines has over 60 C919 pilots, 8 batches of nearly 170 C919 cabin crew members, over 60 C919 maintenance personnel, and over 40 dispatchers.
Notably, on May 27, China Eastern Airlines officially received the first of the newly ordered 100 C919 aircraft, with the aircraft registration number B-919G, expanding the China Eastern Airlines C919 fleet to 6 aircraft.
It is understood that by the end of 2024, the China Eastern Airlines C919 fleet will reach 10 aircraft. Subsequently, the C919 will mainly be deployed to China Eastern Airlines' main base market and important business and tourism trunk routes.
The C919 is China's first independently developed jetliner with independent intellectual property rights, designed in accordance with international airworthiness standards. The project was initiated in 2007, had its maiden flight in 2017, and completed all airworthiness certification work in September 2022.
