Comac’s C909 regional jet made its first international flight on Tuesday, nine years after it entered service.
A C909 operated by Air China departed from Hohhot in northern China and landed in the Mongolian capital city of Ulaanbaatar about 90 minutes later. The flight received a water cannon salute shortly after arrival.
Air China will continue to operate the Hohhot-Ulaanbaatar route using a C909.
Comac, which is owned by the Chinese government, is building a line of commercial jets meant to compete with aircraft made by Boeing and Airbus. Its first project was the single-aisle C909, which can seat between 78 and 97 passengers and has a range between 1,382 and 2,300 miles. The C909 entered service with Chengdu Airlines in 2016 and is now used across China for domestic flights.
Outside China, the C909 is flown by Lao Airlines, Vietjet Air, and Indonesia’s TransNusa Aviation.
Comac also makes the narrowbody C919 and is developing the widebody C929, the long-range C939, and the supersonic C949.
