The C919, a new passenger plane, made its first commercial flight in China over the weekend, according to the Handelsblatt.
The aircraft has been in development for years and has been approved for flights within China since September 2022.
China plans to compete with aircraft manufacturers Boeing and Airbus with the C919.
In China a new passenger plane made its first commercial flight over the weekend, reports the “Handelsblatt“. The C919 is a Short and medium-haul aircraft from the manufacturer Commercial Aviation Corporation. The aircraft has a maximum range of around 5500 kilometers and seats 158 to 168 passengers. According to the “Handelsblatt”, it is considered a prestige project by the Chinese government.
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According to the report, the C919 has now cleared an important hurdle: the first commercial flight with 128 passengers from Shanghai to Beijing took place on Sunday. It was operated by China Eastern Airline. After years of development work and numerous test flights, this is an important step for the aircraft, which has been approved for flights within China since September 2022.
According to the “Handelsblatt”, China wants the aircraft manufacturers to use the C919 Boeing and Airbus make competition. Because their order books are full until the end of the decade, which leads to correspondingly long waiting times for interested airlines. Even the Chinese head of government Xi Jinping At the end of September last year, “described the development of the Chinese medium-haul passenger aircraft as a milestone in his country’s pursuit of self-determination,” as reported by the “Handelsblatt”.
According to the article, China Eastern plans to use the C919 on the Shanghai-Chengdu route in the future. The C919 could also be used by other airlines in the future, because according to official information, the Commercial Aviation Corporation has already received more than 1000 orders for the aircraft. However, according to Bloomberg, most of these orders have not yet been confirmed or are coming from Chinese aircraft lessors that do not yet have airlines to lease.
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