The 'Made in China' plane is about to have its first commercial flight

The C919 is scheduled to make its first commercial flight on May 28, marking a new milestone for China's aircraft manufacturing industry.

On the morning of May 28, China Eastern Airlines will make its first flight with a C919 of China Commercial Aircraft Corporation (Comac). The plane is scheduled to depart from Shanghai and land in Beijing. This is the busiest domestic flight route in the country.

The flight will mark a new milestone for China in its process of breaking the dominance of Boeing and Airbus in the global aircraft manufacturing market. In December 2022, C919 was handed over to China Eastern Airlines. This is the first C919 to reach customers. The aircraft delivered to China Eastern has 164 seats and is painted with the words "The world's first C919" in Chinese and English on the side.

The first C919 of China Eastern Airlines. Photo: Xinhua

After 14 years of development, Comac C919 was certified by China at the end of September 2022. The narrow-body model produced by this country has a capacity of 158-169 passengers with a range of more than 5,500 km. The C919 will compete with the Boeing 737 and Airbus 320.

Beijing hopes the C919 will help China reduce its dependence on foreign technology. However, most of the C919's components are imported from international manufacturers, including engines, avionics, controls, communications and landing gear.

China has big ambitions in the commercial jet market. The government has set a target for the C919 to capture 10% of the domestic market share by 2025. Comac says it has received more than 1,200 orders for the aircraft.

The first commercial flight of C919 also took place in the context of the Chinese aviation market reopening after more than 3 years of stagnation due to Covid-19. Flight data analysis firm OAG commented that the country's domestic flight activity is recovering stably. However, this speed with international flights is sluggish.