VIDEO: Today, China domestic passenger plane COMAC C919 made its first commercial flight from Shanghai to Beijing and 120 passengers

Today, China domestic passenger plane C919 made its first commercial flight from Shanghai to Beijing and 120 passengers.

The Chinese indigenous airliner COMAC C919 has taken off from Shanghai Hongqiao International on its first commercial flight to Beijing Capital International

Flight MU9191 departed Shanghai right on schedule at 10.33 am local time and landed in Beijing at 12.31 am. The service, which reportedly had some 130 passengers on board, received a water salute from the fire brigade. At 14.54, MU9192 returned to Shanghai again. The aircraft with registration B-919A is scheduled for service to Chengdu on Monday.

The first service follows a prolonged series of pre-commercial verification flights. Before the C919 could enter service, China Eastern had to demonstrate that the aircraft during 100 flight hours. This saw her operate on numerous routes in China. In the past week, B-919A visited Chengdu, Nanjing, Taiyuan, Huai’an, and Beijing.

China Eastern expects to take delivery of four more C919s during the year. The second aircraft with factory registration B-001K performed its maiden flight on May 8 and has done two more test flights on May 10 and 18.

COMAC’s own test fleet has continued flying in the past months. Aircraft B-001C was active in March and April on three flights from Shanghai and B-001D did four flights out of Xian in April and May. B-001E has been active in the second half of May, with most flights around Xian and Kunming. B-001F and B-001G resumed flying last week out of Shanghai, and have done their last flights in late March.

Comac, China Eastern, as well as Chinese regulators hailed the ‘historic’ milestone for the aircraft programme, with Comac calling the commercial debut “a new beginning” for the country’s civil aviation sector. Beijing hopes the C919 programme will be a serious competitor to Airbus’ A320 family and Boeing’s 737 narrowbody programmes.

State media reports suggest the flight was carrying more than 130 passengers, including invited guests. China Eastern’s C919s are configured to seat 164 passengers in two classes: eight in business class and 156 seats in economy.

China Eastern on social media says it will deploy the type on daily flights from Shanghai Hongqiao to Chengdu’s Tianfu airport from 29 May, and will “gradually extend” operations to other undisclosed routes in the future. 

VIDEO HERE