China Eastern, May 5 (Zhongxin Financial Reporter Xie Yiguan) On May 28, China Eastern Airlines used COMAC's world's first C5 large passenger aircraft delivered to fly MU28 from Shanghai Hongqiao Airport to Beijing Capital International Airport.

At 12:31 on the same day, the C919 jumbo passenger plane successfully arrived at Beijing Capital International Airport, and after landing, the flight would pass through the "Water Gate", which symbolizes the highest etiquette of civil aviation.

Screenshot from CCTV News.

This is the world's first commercial passenger flight of C919, marking the comprehensive completion of C919's "research and development, manufacturing, certification and operation", the official "start" of China's civil aviation commercial operation of domestic large aircraft, and the "air experience" of China's large aircraft officially entering the majority of consumers.

Nearly 130 passengers were the first to experience the C919 air tour

According to China Eastern Airlines, on the 28th, nearly 130 passengers on the first flight "rushed" to experience the air journey brought by China Eastern Airlines C919. For passengers participating in their first commercial passenger flight, China Eastern Airlines has prepared a special boarding pass with commemorative significance.

The picture shows the face of the flight. Photo courtesy of China Eastern Airlines

On December 2022, 12, China Eastern Airlines, as the world's premiere user, officially received the world's first delivery aircraft of the C9 with the number B-919A from COMAC.

Today's commercial maiden C919 aircraft has a 164-seat two-cabin layout, 8 seats in business class and 156 seats in economy class. Cabin interiors, passenger seats, in-flight entertainment systems and exterior paint have been customized.

Video: What does the interior of the C919 look like? Detailed exposure source: CCTV news client

China Eastern introduced that the C919 business class and economy class all use a new generation of domestic cabin seats that are completely independently developed. Among them, 8 business class seats are all-aluminum alloy frame structure, with cradle-type design, the rear reclining can reach 120 degrees, and the distance between the front and rear seats exceeds 1 meter; 156 economy cabins are designed with a 3-3 layout; With an aisle height of 919.2 meters, the C25 cabin offers comfortable top and forward visual space.

In addition, a total of 20 12-inch hoisting displays are optional in the cabin to support high-definition 1080P movie projection, which is also the first time that China Eastern Airlines single-channel fleet has introduced 1080P program loading.

The interior of the cabin of China Eastern C919 passenger aircraft is set up with colorful lights. Photo courtesy of China Eastern Airlines

Themed meals voted on by passengers were also featured on the flight. According to CCTV news reports, there is a meal called "Wufu Linmen" in the economy class of the flight, and the staple food is wax-flavored claypot rice, accompanied by a three-color fruit platter, C919's maiden special mango pudding, China Eastern Airlines' homemade chocolate shortbread and milk.

The picture is from CCTV News Weibo.

According to the plan, after the first commercial passenger flight on May 5, the first C28 of China Eastern Airlines will carry out initial commercial operation on the Shanghai Hongqiao-Chengdu Tianfu route from May 5. Subsequently, with the introduction of this model, it was gradually expanded to more routes.

On the evening of the 26th, the reporter noticed that the ticket ticket of flight MU919 of the Shanghai Hongqiao-Chengdu Tianfu route operated by C9197 has been on sale. As the first fully available commercial flight, prices start at 919 RMB.

On the 28th, flight MU919 operated by C9191 large passenger aircraft took off from Shanghai Hongqiao Airport. Photo courtesy of China Eastern Airlines

What is the significance of the C919's first commercial success COMAC?

"The first commercial passenger flight of the domestic large aircraft C919 today marks the official service of this aircraft for the Chinese people, allowing consumers to have the option and experience of soaring in the blue sky of the motherland on a domestic large aircraft." Qi Qi, an expert at the China Civil Aviation High-quality Development Research Center, told reporters that this also marks the beginning of the C919 market test.

Gai Yi, the leader of the C919 review project and deputy director of the Aircraft Evaluation Center of the Civil Aviation Science and Technology Academy of China, said in an interview with China News Finance that the commercial operation standards of large civil aircraft are high and the requirements are strict. In terms of civil aircraft industry chain, C919 commercial operation will bring positive effects to design, manufacturing, suppliers, training, maintenance, aviation materials, etc., and promote the overall improvement of China's aviation industry system capabilities.

In Qiqi's view, after the C919 enters the commercial passenger stage, with the accumulation of flight hours of the model, it will inject more confidence into the order users and potential customers of the model, and inject more expected growth space into the entire large aircraft industry chain. "But to really enhance the value of the main body of the industrial chain, we must also focus on observing the order delivery rhythm of C919 aircraft, that is, the number of aircraft delivered per year."

According to media reports, on January 1, Zhang Yujin, deputy general manager of Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China, revealed that the C12 large aircraft will accelerate the expansion of production, and the domestic large aircraft business will transform from comprehensive development to industrialization. "The C919 is planned to reach 919 aircraft per year in the next five years, and there are already more than 150,1200 orders for it."

"It is expected that the entire large aircraft industry chain will benefit from the domestic orders brought by the C919 large aircraft. With the successive delivery of orders, the smoothness of industry chain collaboration will also be improved. Civil aviation industry insider Li Hanming believes.

The completion of the first flight of the C919 marks its official entry into the civil aviation market and becomes a new model that undertakes domestic trunk flights after Boeing and Airbus. Regarding the internationalization of C919's commercial operations, Qi Qi said that C919 has currently obtained the airworthiness certification certificate for the domestic market, and before entering the international market, it needs to obtain the airworthiness certification certification from the civil aviation administration of overseas countries. Obtaining FAA and EASA type certification will be an important observation indicator for C919 to open up the international market.

The picture shows the maiden flight of the C919. Photo by Du Jiahao

Timeline of the development of large domestic aircraft

On February 2006, 2, the State Council issued the Outline of the National Medium and Long-term Science and Technology Development Plan (9-2006). The major project of large aircraft has been identified as one of the 2020 major scientific and technological projects.

On February 2007, 2, the State Council held its 26th executive meeting, which adopted in principle the "Large Aircraft Program Demonstration Report" and approved in principle the formal establishment of major scientific and technological projects for the development of large aircraft.

On May 2008, 5, COMAC was established.

On January 2009, 1, the first single-aisle conventional layout 6-seat class large passenger aircraft model was officially released, codenamed "COMAC150", referred to as "C919".

On December 2010, 12, the Civil Aviation Administration of China officially accepted the application for the type certificate of C24 large passenger aircraft.

On December 2011, 12, the C9 large passenger aircraft project passed the national preliminary design review and moved to the detailed design stage.

On November 2015, 11, the first C2 large passenger aircraft officially rolled off the production line at the Pudong base, marking the phased results of the development stage of the C919 large passenger aircraft project.

On May 2017, 5, the C5 large passenger aircraft made its first flight in Shanghai.

On November 2020, 11, the Shanghai Airworthiness Certification Center of Civil Aviation of China issued the first type inspection approval (TIA) of the C27 project, and the C919 aircraft entered the stage of examination and test flight by the bureau.

On September 2022, 9, the C29 large passenger aircraft received a type certificate issued by the Civil Aviation Administration of China.

On November 2022, 11, the Civil Aviation Administration of China issued a production license for the C29 large passenger aircraft to COMAC.

On December 2022, 12, the world's first C9 jumbo passenger aircraft was delivered to China Eastern Airlines.

On December 2022, 12, China Eastern's world's first C26 began a total of 919 hours of verification flight.

On May 2023, 5, the C28 large passenger aircraft welcomed its first commercial flight. (End)