Photo: Courtesy of China Eastern Airlines

China Eastern Airlines received its seventh C919 plane on Monday. The delivery marks the third C919 aircraft received by the air carrier, the world's first C919 customer, this year.

At 16:25 on Monday, the C919 with the aircraft number B-919H flew from Shanghai Pudong International Airport to Shanghai Hongqiao International Airport, as the plane is officially joining China Eastern Airlines' fleet.

On May 28 this year, the first anniversary of the commercial operation of the C919, China Eastern Airlines' fleet welcomed the sixth C919. This was also the first of the 100 C919 aircraft ordered by the airline.

China Eastern is currently the world's largest user of the home-made C919 aircraft. 

On September 28 of 2023, China Eastern Airlines and Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China (COMAC) signed an agreement to order additional 100 C919 large passenger planes. 

At present, the C919 aircraft operate four regular commercial routes between cities of Shanghai to Chengdu, Beijing, Xi'an and Guangzhou. 

The airlines said that more new routes are expected with the delivery and introduction of new C919 aircraft.

As of Sunday, China Eastern Airlines' C919 fleet has completed a total of 3,031 flights, facilitating nearly 405,000 passenger trips.

Suparna Airlines, known in Chinese as Jinpeng Airlines said it will receive its first C919 aircraft in the fourth quarter of this year, making it be the first private company in the world running home-made C919.

Domestic flagship carriers like Air China and China Southern Airlines have also placed additional orders for 200 C919 planes. At present, the global orders placed for C919 have exceeded 1,000 planes.

Global Times