Ambassador Haque congratulates China on inaugural flight of C919 passenger plane

Pakistan’s Ambassador to China, Moin ul Haque has congratulated China on the successful inaugural flight of C919, the country’s first domestically-made large passenger aircraft.

C919, China’s self-developed large passenger aircraft, completed its inaugural commercial flight from Shanghai to Beijing on Sunday, creating a milestone in China’s aviation industry, which aims to compete with global players such as Boeing.

“Indeed, this is a major milestone for the Chinese aviation sector and for the global commercial aircraft industry,” the ambassador tweeted.

Developed by the Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China (COMAC), the C919 aircraft, China’s first self-developed large jet airliner, is an important proof of China’s strength in self-innovation in the high-end manufacturing industry, and its solid market performance will foster further confidence in future orders and among customers, Chinese experts said.

The C919’s inaugural flight departed at 10:32 a.m. from Shanghai Hongqiao International Airport and landed at Beijing Capital International Airport at 12:31 p.m., where it was welcomed with a special water-salute ceremony.

The highly anticipated flight codenamed MU9191 flying from Shanghai to Beijing was flown by China Eastern Airlines and carried around 130 passengers.

Both the business and economy class on the C919 use a new generation of domestically designed and produced cabin seats. Among them, eight business class seats use an all-aluminum alloy frame structure with a cradle design and a backrest that can reach 120 degrees. The distance between the front and rear seats exceeds 1 meter.

The C919 cabin has a width of 2.25 meters, and the middle seat in the economy class triple seat is 1.5cm wider than the two seats on the end, bringing passengers more comfort.

The C919 project was launched in 2007 and completed its first test flight in 2017. On September 29, 2022, it obtained the Type Certificate from the Civil Aviation Administration of China, the country’s aviation sector regulator.

With between 158 and 168 seats and a flight range of 4,075 to 5,555 kilometers, the C919 is designed to have the same level of specifications as the popular Airbus 320 and Boeing 737.

According to China Eastern Airlines’ plan, the first C919 plane will initially be operated between Shanghai and Chengdu, the capital city of Southwest China’s Sichuan Province, before flying more routes.