China’s first home-grown narrowbody aircraft, the C919, has taken another step towards proving its reliability, after handling a surge in flights during the Lunar New Year travel rush.
The big three Chinese state-owned airlines used their C919 fleets more intensively than ever before, with each C919 staying in the air for an average of 6.5 hours per day over the 40-day holiday period.
Though the airlines deployed their Airbus and Boeing aircraft even more, the holiday still represented a test for the C919, as its utilisation rate soared by 40 per cent compared with the same period last year.
“The C919 demonstrated its reliability as a daily-use aircraft, and there are no significant weaknesses when compared with Airbus and Boeing,” said Li Hanming, a civil aviation analyst.
The Lunar New Year travel period, which ended on Saturday, brings a dramatic spike in travel demand each year as families across China reunite with their relatives.
Demand for air travel reached a record high during this year’s holiday, with the country’s airlines handling 2.25 million passenger trips per day on average, up 7.4 per cent compared with the 2024 holiday, according to the Civil Aviation Administration of China.
The Chinese airlines’ C919s handled a combined 300,000 passenger trips over the course of the holiday, with the jet mostly being used on relatively short domestic routes, according to data compiled by the Chinese civil aviation platform Hangban Guanjia.
The C919s flew on 38 routes, with each jet averaging 3.3 flights per day and spending just over two hours in the air per flight. Those flights were 83.2 per cent full on average, slightly below the industry average of 85.3 per cent, Hangban Guanjia data showed.
A China Eastern route from Shanghai’s in-town Hongqiao airport to Hong Kong was the sole offshore route completed by a C919 during the holiday. China Eastern launched the Shanghai-Hong Kong route in January.
“I think it’s normal to do regional flights like Hongqiao to Hong Kong,” said Mayur Patel, Asia head with British aviation intelligence firm OAG. The C919, he said, has entered a phase of “scaling and learning efficiency”.
Lunar New Year flights by the C919 showed no mechanical issues, though it is still “early days” for the aircraft to prove itself, Patel said.
The C919’s state-owned developer Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China (Comac) began designing the plane in 2009 and acquired parts from multiple suppliers, many based overseas.
Comac’s single-aisle planes, which can seat up to 192 passengers, are similar to the more established Airbus 320 and Boeing 737 in terms of specifications. Last year, the Chinese company received more than 300 orders for C919s from major Chinese airlines.
Boeing’s 737 Max aircraft in China had a utilisation rate of 9.8 hours per day over the Lunar New Year travel period, while the Airbus 320neo with a Leap-1A racked up an average of 9.5 hours in the air per day, the data platform showed.
The two Western models were used more because they have permission to fly in numerous foreign countries, Li said. The C919 still lacks their level of clearance abroad.