domestic large aircraft has made new progress. the three major airlines have all ushered in the "c919 era"
2024-09-05
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on august 28, air china and china southern airlines simultaneously received their first c919 aircraft at the pudong base of the commercial aircraft corporation of china (comac) final assembly and manufacturing center. photo by tao ran
the highly anticipated delivery event of china's domestically produced large passenger aircraft c919 was held in shanghai on the evening of august 28. air china limited (hereinafter referred to as "air china") and china southern airlines group co., ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "china southern") simultaneously received the first c919 aircraft, marking that the c919 aircraft is about to enter a new stage of multi-user operation.
at the event, comac issued the aircraft sales certificate to air china and china southern airlines and handed over the aircraft delivery commemorative keys. the civil aviation administration of china issued the nationality registration certificate, aircraft airworthiness certificate and radio station license to air china and china southern airlines. as the hangar door slowly opened, the first c919 of air china, painted with the five-star red flag, and the first c919 of china southern airlines, painted with red kapok, appeared on the same stage. together with china eastern airlines group co., ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "china eastern airlines"), which has already put the c919 into commercial operation, the three major chinese airlines have all ushered in the c919 era, which is also an important step since the commercial operation of c919 began.
ma chongxian, chairman and party secretary of china aviation group co., ltd., said at the delivery site that the c919 aircraft is an important milestone in the development of china's large aircraft industry. air china is the only airline in china that flies the national flag. introducing and operating the c919 and allowing domestically-made large aircraft to soar in the blue sky with the national flag on its back is a vivid practice of air china continuing its flag-carrying mission and demonstrating its flag-carrying responsibility in the new era. it is an important part of air china's efforts to build a world-class enterprise and promote high-quality development.
it is reported that in view of the introduction of the domestically-produced c919 large aircraft, air china has always placed safety work in the first place, and has established four professional docking groups with comac for aircraft maintenance, personnel training, ground support, and operation control, and selected business backbones to participate in aircraft selection, production supervision, personnel training, operation preparation and other aspects.
in may this year, air china established the c919 flight squadron, completed the first batch of pilot conversion training with high quality, successfully completed the systematic training of dispatchers, flight attendants, safety officers and ground support personnel, steadily promoted the construction of maintenance support capabilities, comprehensively established service quality risk management and operation service standards, and carefully introduced operation support plans to make full preparations for the smooth introduction and safe and efficient operation of c919.
"from feng ru no. 1 to the c919 aircraft flying into the blue sky with the national flag on its back, after more than a hundred years of arduous struggle by several generations of aviation personnel, china's aviation development has opened a magnificent new chapter. i am honored to have the opportunity to participate in the overall planning and promotion of the introduction and operation preparations of the c919 aircraft. it is both an honor and a responsibility to contribute to the large-scale and serialized development of domestically-made large aircraft." qi zhongxin, fleet management specialist of air china's planning and development department, told reporters.
the reporter also learned that air china has carried out careful design in the selection of the c919 aircraft. the aircraft is an extended-range model with a spacious two-cabin layout of 158 seats, including 8 business class seats and 150 economy class seats. it uses fully functional domestic seats, creates exclusive cabin entertainment programs and safety videos, and provides customized in-flight supplies and other exclusive configurations, providing passengers with a better travel experience.
subsequently, air china will continue to complete various tasks including actual aircraft testing, route verification flights, on-site training, emergency evacuation procedure demonstrations, and new aircraft operational qualification certification in an intensive, efficient and orderly manner to ensure that air china's first c919 will be successfully put into commercial operation.
air china has long been committed to supporting the development of china's domestic large aircraft industry. statistics show that in july 2020, air china's first arj21-700 passenger aircraft was put into operation. so far, air china has introduced a total of 29 arj21 passenger aircraft, with a total of more than 70,000 hours of safe flight. in april this year, air china signed a purchase agreement with comac for 100 c919 aircraft, which are scheduled to be delivered to air china in batches from 2024 to 2031.
"in the future, air china will actively work with partners such as comac to consolidate the aircraft operation support system, give full play to its own route network advantages, strengthen market promotion, select high-quality routes, lay a solid foundation for the large-scale operation of c919, and contribute to the domestic large aircraft flying in the blue sky." ma chongxian concluded.
it is worth noting that one week after being delivered to air china and china southern airlines, c919 has made new progress. on september 2, at the china air china 2024 semi-annual performance briefing, air china's board secretary xiao feng said that air china's c919 is expected to start commercial operation around september 10, and will fly the beijing-shanghai and beijing-hangzhou routes; then china southern airlines revealed that its c919 is expected to officially fly the guangzhou-shanghai hongqiao route on september 19.
data shows that since the c919 was put into commercial operation on may 28, 2023, a total of 9 aircraft have been delivered, 5 routes have been opened, 5 cities have been connected, the cumulative safe flight time has exceeded 10,000 hours, more than 3,700 commercial flights have been carried out, and more than 500,000 passengers have been carried.
from china eastern airlines receiving the world's first c919 to now c919 becoming the "standard configuration" of the three major airlines. after the test of actual operation, the domestic large aircraft has passed the threshold of "from 0 to 1" and has now entered the rapid growth period of "from 1 to n". in the future, more c919s will be delivered to major airlines.
china youth daily and china youth network reporter zhang zhenqi
(source: china youth daily)
