China’s first domestically-built commercial passenger aircraft has been unveiled at the Singapore Airshow, raising fresh questions about its ability to compete with its two main rivals, Airbus and Boeing.
The C919 project was launched in 2007. Developed by Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China, Ltd. (COMAC), the aircraft rolled off the Shanghai production line in November 2015. The C919 made its maiden flight in 2017, and China Eastern Airlines began commercial operations with the aircraft in May 2023.
The C919 delivered to China Eastern has 164 seats in a two-class cabin layout, with eight business class seats and 156 economy class seats. In the economy class cabin, the middle seat in each row of three seats is 1.5 cm wider than the adjacent ones, which, according to Chinese engineers, provides greater comfort.
The aisle height on the plane is 2.25 meters, it is equipped with an efficient air filtration system, a passenger-oriented lighting system, and a low-noise system. In addition, the cabin has twenty 12-inch retractable screens that can play video in 1080P resolution.