China's heavy transport aircraft the Y-20 welcomed its first group of passengers aboard on Friday, while setting a record for the number of people carried on a single flight by a domestic aircraft.
The success of this flight clearly demonstrated the performance, safety and stability of the Y-20 in the first test flight of this kind, which will boost customer confidence in the aircraft, the Aviation Industry Corporation of China's (AVIC) First Aircraft Institute announced on Saturday on its WeChat account.
Qiang Suihong, an AVIC engineer who took part in the flight, said, "As one of the developers, I'm really honored and proud to be on board the aircraft."
"The experience during the flight and communications with the flight crew will help us find any deficiencies in the design and make progress in the future," Qiang said.
The passengers were all members of an AVIC Y-20 development group.
The State-owned AVIC was responsible for both the design and manufacturing of the Y-20 long-range transport aircraft, which had its maiden flight in January 2013, and made its debut at the 10th China International Aviation and Aerospace Exhibition in Zhuhai, South China's Guangdong Province, in November 2014.
The aircraft officially went into full service with the Chinese air force in July 2016.
