China is celebrating the first commercial flight of a Chinese-designed aircraft

With our representative in Beijing, Stephane Lagarde

With 128 passengers on board and the iconic flight number #MU9191, the white plane of China Eastern Airlines was on every smartphone in China this Sunday. This was followed by music and state media specials First commercial flight of the C919 From the time it took off in Shanghai at 10:35 this morning, until it touched down on the tarmac in Beijing two hours later, there were two fire trucks waiting. Hi aquatics » : Two jets of water form an arc as the plane approaches.

According to China Central Television, those lucky enough to board the plane got red boarding passes and were able to enjoy ” A themed meal “. Pride and patriotism in the comments : “ Many passengers may choose to fly on larger nationally designed aircraft in the future “, further emphasizes the state channel.

Seven years behind schedule and in an environment of distrust of air transport in the context of the decarbonisation of transport, Chinese manufacturer Comac dreams of competing with the Airbus A320 and 737-Max from Boeing. The device has already recorded more than 1 200 orders, mainly from Chinese companies. The first aircraft of Chinese design, the C919 is based on foreign technologies and in particular its Leap1C engine developed by GE-Safran.