C919 will be operational as soon as possible

A C919 jet takes flight at the 14th Airshow China in Zhuhai, Guangdong province on Nov 9, 2022. (Photo by Wang Zhuangfei/China Daily)

The first C919, China's first self-developed trunk jetliner, will be delivered by the end of this year and put into commercial operation as soon as possible, board secretary of the jet's first global customer China Eastern Airlines said on Monday.

After meeting all the requirements of the Civil Aviation Administration of China in the first half of 2023, the first C919 will be put into commercial operation as soon as possible, and other ordered C919 planes will be produced and delivered according to schedule, Wang Jian, board secretary of the China Eastern Airlines Corp Ltd was quoted saying during an online third quarter performance briefing by the Beijing Youth Daily on Monday.

According to Wang, China Eastern Airlines has been operating 11 ARJ21 aircrafts as of October, which are also by C919's manufacturer Commercial Aircraft Corp of China, and all the ARJ21 jets are in stable operation.

A C919 jet successfully completed its proving flight before delivery at noon on Sunday. Departing from Shanghai's Pudong International Airport, the domestically made jet, number B001F, landed at the Yangzhou Taizhou International Airport in Yangzhou, Jiangsu province, the official WeChat account of the Yangzhou Taizhou International Airport tweeted on Sunday.

The C919 received its type certificate in September from the Civil Aviation Administration of China. As the nation's domestically developed single-aisle passenger jet, C919 is comparable to the updated Airbus 320 and Boeing's new generation 737 planes. It has 158-168 seats and a range of 4,075-5,555 km. COMAC has received 815 orders for it from 28 Chinese and foreign companies, according to the company's website.

China Eastern Airlines became C919's first global customer in March 2021 by placing the first official order for five of the narrow-body aircraft from COMAC.