The first domestically made passenger plane in China has taken its first commercial flight. The C919 was seen soaring into the air above Shanghai and heading to the capital Beijing early Sunday, according to state television.
The Commercial Aviation Corporation of China (Comac) created it with the goal of challenging Airbus and Boeing’s supremacy of single-aisle jets. Yet, the 164-seater continues to rely largely on Western components, including as engines and avionics.
Its maiden commercial flight, from Shanghai to Beijing, took just under three hours and carried more than 130 passengers.
The plane is due to return to the coastal city.
China Eastern Airlines, supported by the Chinese government, has ordered five planes.
Comac, which expects to construct 150 planes per year in five years, says it has already received over 1,200 orders for the C919.
Yet, other analysts believe that the majority of these purchases are letters of intent from domestic buyers.
President Xi Jinping, who once rode in the cockpit of a mock-up C919, has called the project “one of China’s greatest inventive achievements.”
