Editorial | China’s C919 aims to spread wings further after ‘historic’ Hong Kong service
Launch of first commercial route outside mainland China part of efforts to fly home-made passenger aircraft into global markets
After years of fits, starts and setbacks, an aircraft that is made in China has begun to spread its wings in earnest. On New Year’s Day, China Eastern Airlines launched the first commercial C919 route outside the mainland with a flight linking Shanghai and Hong Kong.
Amid the fanfare, Secretary for Transport and Logistics Mable Chan hailed Wednesday’s return flight as “historic”. It is a welcome development for China’s aviation industry, which struggled for decades to produce a home-grown aircraft.
The new daily return service is part of China’s efforts to push the C919 into global markets, and expands the China Eastern network for the aircraft to nine cities. It also is another milestone for the Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China (Comac), which launched in Shanghai in 2008 with the eventual aim of producing a safe and commercially viable passenger aircraft.
Over the next 15 years, technical issues and delays in testing led to the postponement of its maiden flight and the pandemic pushed back aircraft deliveries. Its first commercial C919 flight from Beijing to Shanghai, again with China Eastern, came in May 2023.
Milestones fell rapidly after that, with its international debut at the Singapore Airshow in February last year and a successful trial return flight between Hong Kong and Shanghai in June.
