On May 28, 2023, the first commercial passenger flight of the new Chinese medium-haul narrow-body C919 aircraft took place, marking the beginning of the commissioning of this type. The first serial C919 delivered to China Eastern Airlines (serial number 10107, registration number B-919A) made its first flight (MU9191) from Shanghai Hongqiao Airport, where China Eastern Airlines headquarters is located, to Beijing Capital Airport. Departure from Hongqiao took place at 10.32 a.m. local time, with arrival in Beijing at 12.31 p.m.
The take-off of the first serial model of the Chinese medium-haul passenger aircraft SOMAS C919 (serial number 10107, registration number B-919A) of China Eastern Airlines from Shanghai Hongqiao Airport during the first commercial flight to Beijing, 05/28/2023 (c) XinhuaOn the first flight, there were more than 130 passengers on board the aircraft.
Named Ufa linmen (Chinese idiom "five blessings come to the family") The themed lunch, available to Economy Class C919 passengers, included a serving clay pot of rice with canned meat, a three-part fruit dish, mango pudding with the image of the first flight, CEA chocolate shortbread cookies and White Rabbit milk candies.
From May 29, China Eastern Airlines begins regular operation of the C919 also on the route from Hongqiao (Shanghai) to Chengdu. The cost of an economy class ticket, which went on sale from the evening of May 26, is 919 yuan (10277 rubles).
The first serial Chinese medium-haul passenger aircraft C919 was developed and is being built by the Chinese state-owned civil aviation company Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China (COMAC). The first production aircraft C919 (serial number 10107, registration number B-919A, at the test stage carried a temporary registration B-001J) made its first flight in Shanghai at Pudong Airport on May 14, 2022 and was handed over to China Eastern Airlines as the launch customer on December 9, 2022 at Hongqiao Airport. The aircraft is made in a 164-seat layout (eight seats in business class and 156 in economy class).Since December 26, China Eastern Airlines has been carrying out control and operational flights on the first board, but the start of its commercial operation (originally announced on March 1, 2023) was delayed by almost three months compared to the initial plans.
Narrow-body C919 aircraft in the passenger capacity class of 158-190 seats (that is, similar to the Boeing 737 and Airbus A320, the main claimed variant of the C919 capacity is 168 seats) It was developed and produced by the State Association of Civil Aviation SOMAS, specially created in China in 2008, for which the C919 became the first full-fledged project. In fact, all the structural elements of the aircraft are either manufactured at various enterprises of the Chinese state aircraft corporation AVIC, or imported, and only the final assembly is carried out at the SOMAS facility at Pudong Airport in Shanghai. The C919 is the first mainline passenger aircraft created in China after the unsuccessful and remaining non-serial Y-10 aircraft, built in the number of three prototypes in the early 1980s.
The C919 aircraft is equipped with two CFM International LEAP 1C engines, and in the future it is planned to be equipped with Chinese CJ-1000A engines also created under the auspices of SOMAS. Bench tests of the CJ-1000A prototypes were started in 2018. In March 2023, flight tests of one sample of the CJ-1000A were started on an airplane-a flying laboratory based on the new Chinese Y-20 transport aircraft.
The first flight of the first flight prototype C919 (serial number 10101, registration number B-001A) took place in Shanghai on May 5, 2017. The first flight of the second prototype C919 (serial number 10102, registration number B-001C) took place on December 17, 2017, and the first flight of the third prototype (serial number 10103, registration number B-001D) took place on December 29, 2018. During 2019, three more C919 flight prototypes were built (serial numbers 10104, 10105 and 10106), and thus the total number of experimental machines involved in the tests was six.Certification flights of the C919 as part of the tests were completed on July 3, 2022, and on September 29, 2022, the aircraft officially received a type certificate from the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC). The aircraft was certified in the basic version according to the airworthiness standards CCAR-25 CAAC, harmonized with the American standards FAR-25. On November 29, the aircraft received the production certificate of the CAAC. In general, the testing and certification process was delayed, and the CAAC certification, and then the delivery of the first production C919 aircraft were made about a year late from the last planned dates.
According to official COMAC data, the portfolio of orders and options for C919 for the spring of 2023 included about 1,200 aircraft (including 483 in supposedly "firm" contracts) from 32 Chinese air carriers and leasing companies.
In March 2021, China Eastern Airlines and COMAC officially signed a contract for the purchase of the first batch of five C919 aircraft with delivery dates that made China Eastern Airlines the launch operator of the aircraft. After the transfer of the first aircraft in December 2022, the remaining four C919 aircraft should be delivered to China Eastern Airlines in 2023-2024. From the published documents of the airline, it became known that the price of one C919 board for it was $ 99 million.
According to the information published by SOMAS, it plans to deliver six serial C919 aircraft in 2023, to increase production to 36 aircraft per year in 2026, and to 64 aircraft per year in 2029.
Photo report on the first commercial flight of the first serial model of the Chinese medium-haul passenger aircraft SOMAS C919 (serial number 10107, registration number B-919A) of China Eastern Airlines from Shanghai Hongqiao Airport to Beijing, 05/28/2023 (c) XinhuaVideo:
