At the beginning of the new year, the first scheduled flight of the domestically produced large aircraft C919 "Shanghai Hongqiao-Hong Kong" is about to take off. The C919 that will fly on its first flight will be unveiled with a "new skin" and a special "Sparkling Chinese Red" livery. It will soon make its first flight in the new year.
At around 7 a.m., China Eastern Airlines held its first flight ceremony at Shanghai Hongqiao International Airport. The on-site "Chinese style" traditional lion dance performance conveyed the warm atmosphere of welcoming the New Year's Day. Echoing the new C919's special "Shine China Red" livery, the flight attendants of the first flight wore "Shine China Red" badges to greet passengers boarding; passengers on the first flight also received commemorative boarding passes before boarding, leaving a special memory of the first flight.
As the base airline in Shanghai, the voyage of China Eastern Airlines C919 has a unique fate with Hong Kong. On June 1, 2024, China Eastern Airlines used the domestically produced large aircraft C919 to perform a round-trip commercial charter flight from "Shanghai Hongqiao-Hong Kong-Shanghai Hongqiao", carrying more than 120 Hong Kong college students to Shanghai. Thus, China Eastern Airlines C919 took the first step in the regional operation of domestically produced large aircraft.
China Eastern Airlines is currently the airline with the largest C919 fleet and the largest number of C919 general aviation destinations. Since its first commercial operation on May 28, 2023, it has carried out more than 6,600 flights, flown for more than 16,000 hours, and carried more than 900,000 passengers. China Eastern Airlines’ C919 fleet has reached 10 aircraft, flying to Shanghai, Beijing, Chengdu, Xi’an, Guangzhou, Taiyuan, Chongqing, Wuhan and other cities. After the launch of the "Shanghai-Hong Kong route", China Eastern Airlines' C919 will fly 9 premium routes and reach 9 destinations.