China Eastern Airlines receives first COMAC C919

The world’s first COMAC C919, a Chinese-made narrowbody jet, was delivered to launch customer China Eastern Airlines in Shanghai on Friday and took off for a 15-minute flight to mark the historic moment.

The plane, a rival to the Airbus A320neo and Boeing 737 MAX, is expected to make its maiden commercial flight next spring, according to state-owned Xinhua News Agency.

The C919 delivered to China Eastern has 164 seats. Its inaugural route will be between Shanghai and the capital Beijing, industry sources said.

→ Last 747 leaves Boeing factory.

China Eastern said on Friday it plans to receive the remaining four of its first batch of C919 orders over the next two years.

Commercial Aviation Corp of China (COMAC) is expected to produce around 25 C919s per year by 2030, far lower than the current monthly rates of narrowbody production at its rivals, according to Jefferies analysts.

The C919 currently relies heavily on Western components, including engines and flight control systems, from companies such as GE, Safran and Honeywell International.

China is trying to raise the proportion of domestic parts in the C919 and an alternative engine called the CJ-1000A is under development.