China's third C919 aircraft delivered to China Eastern Airlines

The third of China's self-developed large C919 jetliners was delivered to China Eastern Airlines in Shanghai on Saturday.

Taking off from Shanghai Pudong International Airport, it arrived at Shanghai Hongqiao International Airport on Saturday morning to join the airline.

It is the third of the first five C919 aircraft that China Eastern Airlines purchased in 2021 from Commercial Aircraft Corp of China (COMAC), the developer of C919.

Coded B-919D, the aircraft has the same cabin layout as the previous two. There are 164 seats in a two-class cabin layout. It received corresponding certificates for commercial operation from the Civil Aviation Administration on Friday.

In December last year, China Eastern Airlines welcomed the first C919 jetliner, which completed the inaugural commercial flightbetween Shanghai Hongqiao International Airport and Beijing Capital International Airport on May 28.

The second C919was delivered to the airline in July and entered service in August. The first two C919s serve the route between Shanghai and Chengdu, southwest China's Sichuan Province.

In September, China Eastern Airlines signed a new agreement with COMAC to buy an additional 100 C919 aircraft, the largest single order for the C919 so far.

China's C919 program was officially launched in 2009, and the first aircraft rolled off the assembly line in 2015. It's a milestone in the country's pursuit of civil planes designed and manufactured domestically.