On May 28, 2024, the domestically-produced large aircraft C919 celebrated its first anniversary of commercial operation. Just the day before, as the global launch customer of the C919, China Eastern Airlines officially received its sixth aircraft.
This is also the first aircraft of the 100 additional C919 orders for China Eastern Airlines, with the registration number B-919G. It has been upgraded with optimizations in the cockpit displays and in-flight entertainment systems compared to the previous five aircraft.
On May 28, 2023, China Eastern Airlines operated the world's first C919 aircraft on flight MU9191 from Shanghai Hongqiao to Beijing Capital, successfully completing the world's first commercial passenger flight, marking a comprehensive integration of the C919 in research, manufacturing, certification, and operation, officially heralding the start of China's civil aviation commercial operation of domestically produced large aircraft.
Over the past year, China Eastern Airlines has achieved several "firsts" with the C919:
As of May 27, 2024, China Eastern Airlines' five C919 aircraft have operated a total of 2181 flights on four routes: Shanghai Hongqiao-Beijing Capital, Shanghai Hongqiao-Chengdu Tianfu, Shanghai Hongqiao-Beijing Daxing, and Shanghai Hongqiao-Xi'an Xianyang, accumulating a total of 6090 hours of commercial flight time and carrying over 276,000 passengers.
Over the past year, the C919 has maintained normal operational status, demonstrated good safety performance during flights, steadily improved key indicators such as daily utilization rate, undergone comprehensive operational capability assessments, and achieved an average flight occupancy rate of nearly 80%.
Drawing on the successful experiences following the formal transition to normal operations, China Eastern Airlines has developed the C919 Operations Manual to offer insights and lessons for other airlines.
China Eastern Airlines has also established the "C919 Innovation Studio Alliance" to drive management and technological innovations within the C919 fleet.
Currently, China Eastern Airlines has over 60 C919 pilots, 8 batches of nearly 170 cabin crew members, more than 60 C919 maintenance personnel, and over 40 dispatchers. Ground service support training has been completed for over 14,000 individuals.
Notably, on June 1st, China Eastern Airlines will operate a commercial charter flight from Hong Kong to Shanghai using the C919, transporting Hong Kong university students participating in the "Shanghai-Hong Kong Unity" exchange activities.
By the end of 2024, China Eastern Airlines' C919 fleet is expected to reach 10 aircraft, with plans to introduce new routes.
In the future, the China Eastern Airlines C919 will primarily serve the airline's main base market and important business and tourism routes, continuously expanding its market influence and fostering a positive reputation among users.
