China’s 1st domestically made passenger plane completes maiden commercial flight

BEIJING –

China’s first domestically made passenger jet flew its maiden industrial flight on Sunday, as China seems to compete with trade giants similar to Boeing and Airbus within the international plane market.

The C919 aircraft, constructed by the Commercial Aviation Corporation of China, carried about 130 passengers on the flight, in line with state-owned newspaper China Daily. The jet took off Sunday morning from Shanghai Hongqiao Airport and landed lower than two hours later in Beijing.

The flight was operated by state-owned China Eastern Airlines and the aspect of the aircraft was emblazoned with the phrases: “The World’s First C919.”

The inaugural flight comes as COMAC seems to interrupt into the single-aisle jet market in a direct problem to Airbus and Boeing. Airbus’s A320 and Boeing’s B737 jets are the most well-liked aircrafts usually used for home and regional flights.

While COMAC designed lots of the C919’s elements, a few of its key elements are nonetheless sourced from the West, together with its engine.

The firm plans to construct 150 C919 planes every year for the subsequent 5 years, in line with earlier state media experiences.

The C919, which had been in improvement for 16 years, has a most vary of about 3,500 miles (5,630 kilometres) and is designed to hold between 158 and 168 passengers.

Over 1,200 C919 jetliners have been ordered, COMAC says, with China Eastern Airlines below contract to purchase 5 of them.