China celebrates the first commercial flight of a Chinese-designed aircraft

With our correspondent in Beijing, Stephen Lagarde

With 128 passengers on board and the iconic flight number #MU9191, the white China Eastern Airlines plane was on every smartphone this Sunday in China. The performances of the music and state media that followed First commercial flight of the C919 From take off this morning at 10.35 am in Shanghai, to landing two hours later on the tarmac in Beijing where two fire trucks were waiting” hello aqua » Two jets of water form an arc as the plane arrives.

According to China Central Television, the lucky ones who were able to board the plane, were given red boarding passes and were able to enjoy ” themed meals Pride and patriotism in the comments :” Most passengers in the future will be able to choose to travel on large, nationally designed aircraft ”, further confirms on the state channel.

Seven years behind the initial schedule and in a climate of mistrust regarding air transport in the context of decarbonization of transport, Chinese manufacturer Comac dreams of competing with Boeing’s Airbus A320 and 737-Max. The device has already registered more than 1 200 orders, mostly from Chinese companies. The first Chinese-designed aircraft, the C919 still draws on foreign technologies, in particular its Leap1C engine developed by GE-Safran.