News
China Eastern to fly the C919 on Shanghai-Beijing trunk route
May 12th 2017
After successfully completing its 80-minute maiden flight last Friday, China’s first homebuilt jetliner, the C919, is set to enter revenue service with launch customer, China Eastern Airlines, in 2020. Read More »
China Eastern chairman, Liu Shaoyong, told Xinhua the state-controlled carrier has maintained close contact and cooperation with COMAC on C919 research and development, including operations and MRO.
“The global commercial aircraft market has huge potential and China is a big market itself, so a safe, economical, comfortable and environmentally friendly aircraft will be popular. I believe the C919 will definitely become a star aircraft,” Liu said.
COMAC has secured more than 500 Mainland orders for the C919, although a study of its order book revealed the majority of these commitments are MOUs and LOIs rather than firm orders.
COMAC is planning to build a family of wide body aircraft in a joint venture with Russia’s United Aircraft Corp., provisionally dubbed the C929. The aircraft is expected to have its first flight in 2023 and enter into service in 2026. With a range of 7,600 nautical miles, the wide body will compete with Airbus’ A330 and Boeing’s 787 series.
