A passenger surnamed Lin, who took a flight from Shanghai Hongqiao International Airport to Xi'an Xianyang International Airport, takes a group photo with a model of the C919 as a memento of her trip as the millionth passenger on December 19, 2024. Photo: Courtesy of China Eastern Airlines

China's first self-developed narrow-body jet C919 aircraft will serve the route from Shanghai to Hong Kong starting from January 1, 2025, China Eastern Airlines said on Thursday, the first time the plane will carry out commercial flights between the two regions.

The fixed commercial flight is scheduled to fly one round trip per day. 

Data from Trip.com showed that the plane will fly from the Shanghai Hongqiao International Airport at 8:15 am to the Hong Kong International Airport at 10:50 am, then fly back at 12:55 pm from Hong Kong. 

China Eastern is the world's first airlines to use the C919, with cumulative orders reaching 105, and  currently has the largest C919 fleet. Hong Kong is the ninth city where China Eastern's C919 regularly operates commercial flights, according to information shared with the Global Times by China Eastern.

In June this year, the C919 from China Eastern completed its first commercial chartered flight beyond the Chinese mainland, the first round-trip service provided by the home-grown passenger aircraft between Shanghai and Hong Kong, according to the Xinhua News Agency. 

The two other Chinese airlines are also busy expanding their commercial flights. 

China Southern Airlines, which introduced the first C919 in August, started commercial flights with the C919 from Guangzhou to Haikou, South China's Hainan Province on December 11. The route will be fixed with the C919 from December 16, according to the China Southern. 

Haikou has become the fifth destination for China Southern's C919 aircraft after Guangzhou, Shanghai, Hangzhou and Chengdu.

The C919 aircraft from Air China is serving four routes between the cities of Beijing, Shanghai, Hangzhou, Chengdu and Wuhan. 

The home-made aircraft has carried out more than 1 million passenger trips since it was put into commercial operation on May 28, 2023, Chinese plane maker the Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China (COMAC) said on December 19. 

As of December 19, COMAC has delivered a total of 14 C919 aircraft to China Eastern Airlines, Air China and China Southern Airlines, opening a total of 15 routes and serving 10 cities. 

Global Times