China's second home-made C919 aircraft enters regular service

China Eastern Airlines' second C919 aircraft, with a registration number of B-919C, takes off from Shanghai Hongqiao International Airport, August 2, 2023. /CFP

The second domestic-made C919 large passenger plane, which had been delivered to its operator Shanghai-based China Eastern airlines in mid-July, entered regular service on Wednesday.

With the registration number B-919C, the plane is scheduled to fly between east China's Shanghai Municipality and Chengdu City, southwest China's Sichuan Province, the same route which the first C919 aircraft serves.

The China News Service (CNS) said, citing the airline, that the C919 jetliner will fly to more cities, such as the Xi'an City in northwest China's Shannxi Province, Kunming in southwest China's Yunnan Province, and Guangzhou and Shenzhen in south China's Guangdong Province.

The airline is expected to purchase three more C919 aircraft this year, according to the CNS.

China's first C919 commercial flight

The first C919 aircraft made its inaugural commercial flight between Shanghai and Beijing on May 28, and the airline's first C919 aircraft entered regular service between Shanghai and Chengdu afterwards and has completed 87 commercial flights as of July 1.

With an average load factor of nearly 80 percent, it carried 11,095 passengers in 250.1 hours of commercial operation.