C919 flies on the Beijing-Shanghai line! China Eastern Airlines has received four aircraft, and the domestic large aircraft has entered the stage of normal operation

(Wang Xiaoyu photography)

More than half a year after the route between Shanghai Hongqiao International Airport (hereinafter referred to as "Hongqiao Airport") and Chengdu Tianfu International Airport (hereinafter referred to as "Tianfu Airport") was put into regular operation in May 2023, with the increase in the number of deliveries, the C919 domestic mainline jet operated by China Eastern Airlines Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "China Eastern Airlines") will expand its scope of operation to the Beijing-Shanghai route, the most "golden" domestic route in China, starting on January 9.

Normalize large-scale operations

According to the relevant information released by the booking system of China Eastern Airlines, the flight number from Hongqiao Airport to Daxing Airport operated by C919 aircraft is MU5137, the first flight departs at 15:30 on January 9 and arrives at Daxing Airport at 17:55, and the return flight MU5138 departs at 19:15 on the same day and arrives at Hongqiao Airport at 21:10. One round trip per day.

China Eastern Airlines took delivery of its first C919 aircraft in December 2022 and began several months of route verification flights, including many domestic airports, including Daxing Airport, to fully understand its support capabilities after it was put into commercial operation. China Eastern took delivery of a second C919 in July last year and has been flying flights between Shanghai and Chengdu with the first aircraft since early August. After receiving the third and fourth aircraft in December last year and early January this year, it began to gradually move towards normalization and large-scale operation.

It is worth noting that in May 2023, China Eastern Airlines used C919 to launch the first commercial flight from Hongqiao Airport to Capital Airport, but this was only a "ceremony" like the beginning, and then the normalized commercial operation route has been operated between Hongqiao Airport and Tianfu Airport until now.

The flight fare queried by the reporter of the "China Times" on January 8 shows that compared with other flights on the Beijing-Shanghai line, the fare shown by C919 on January 9 is relatively cheaper, of which the lowest pre-tax fare of MU5137 is less than 500 yuan, and the lowest pre-tax fare of MU5138 is less than 600 yuan, compared with the lowest price of other flights on the Beijing-Shanghai line of China Eastern Airlines, which is more than 1,000 yuan or even more expensive.

This situation is in stark contrast to the hot scene of the C919 last year's commercial maiden flight between Shanghai and Chengdu. However, considering the "first launch effect" and the fact that it was at the beginning of the hottest summer transportation market in the domestic civil aviation industry in 2023, it is not difficult to understand.

According to a long-term frequent flyer who has been flying frequently on the Beijing-Shanghai line in an exchange with the "China Times" reporter, the Beijing-Shanghai line operating at Daxing Airport was originally lower than the Beijing-Shanghai line of the capital airport, and I believe that China Eastern Airlines will put C919 on the route between Daxing and Hongqiao, and part of it is out of the intention to use the hot spot effect of C919 to boost the Beijing-Shanghai line of Daxing Airport, and then it is the off-season of the civil aviation industry recently, and the overall price of air tickets is at a low level.

According to the data released by China Eastern Airlines, from the beginning of the first commercial flight to December 31, 2023, China Eastern Airlines' C919 fleet has carried a total of 655 commercial flights, carrying nearly 82,000 passengers.

China Eastern also said that it will continue to receive C919 passenger aircraft from Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China (COMAC) in 2024 as planned. At present, China Eastern Airlines is the world's largest user of C919 passenger aircraft, in addition to the first five aircraft initially signed, it also ordered 100 more aircraft in September last year. According to the plan, the additional 100 C919s will be delivered in batches from 2024 to 2031. Of these, 5 are planned to be delivered in 2024, 10 per year from 2025 to 2027, 15 per year from 2028 to 2030, and 20 in 2031.

According to the plan previously released by China Eastern Airlines, the C919 fleet will focus on the "four beams and eight pillars" route network, and invest in high-quality high-quality routes in Shanghai, Beijing, Xi'an, Kunming, Guangzhou, Chengdu, Shenzhen and other places.

Opportunities and challenges of domestic civil aircraft

For domestic civil aircraft, it is currently in a stage of development full of opportunities and critical. On the one hand, the policy and market support from the industry have made the regional aircraft ARJ21 series have formed a large-scale operation, and the commercial operation of C919 seems to have started relatively smoothly at present, and at the same time, the expansion of serialization including extended and high prototypes has also begun to enter the practice stage.

At the 2024 National Civil Aviation Work Conference held on January 4, the Civil Aviation Administration said that this year it will "do a good job in the post-certification management of C919 and ARJ21, do a good job in the airworthiness review of C919 and ARJ21 modification optimization, and promote the continuous improvement of the performance of domestic civil aircraft", and also proposed to "promote the EASA accreditation review of C919 aircraft and promote domestic civil aircraft to go abroad." ”

In fact, ARJ21 has taken a step forward in the goal of going abroad. In December 2022, the ARJ21 has been delivered to Indonesia's TransNusa, although the airline has a Chinese background behind it, but as the first Chinese-made jetliner to enter the overseas market operation, it is of great significance for COMAC to establish its brand image overseas, lay a market foundation, and for China's construction of the "Belt and Road" and the construction of a new development pattern of "dual circulation".

Domestic airlines have also shown considerable sincerity in supporting the development of domestic civil aircraft. In addition to China Eastern Airlines' large-scale order of C919, many domestic airlines have been ordering ARJ21 and C919 models, and many airlines have already received and put into operation more than 100 ARJ21 models.

At the end of last year, Air China Limited (hereinafter referred to as "Air China") announced that it would raise funds through private placement, part of which will be used for the purchase of domestic civil aircraft. According to Air China's disclosed plan, it will purchase six C919s and 11 ARJ21s, which are expected to be delivered in 2024-2025.

Air China said that the introduction and actual operation of 17 aircraft will further enhance the company's fleet size and carrying capacity, expand the traffic volume of major routes, improve the company's route network, and increase route revenue. At the same time, the newly introduced aircraft will partially replace the old aircraft, which is conducive to the company's optimization of fleet structure, effectively reducing fuel consumption and maintenance costs, thereby improving the company's profitability and market competitiveness.

In April last year, HNA Aviation Group also signed an agreement with COMAC for the purchase of up to 100 aircraft, including 60 C919s and 40 ARJ21s. During the 2022 Zhuhai Air Show, a number of state-owned leasing companies, including CDB Financial Leasing, ICBC Financial Leasing, and BOCOM Financial Leasing, signed huge aircraft purchase orders for 300 C919s and 30 ARJ21s with COMAC.

It is with the support of these airlines and leasing companies that COMAC has obtained more than 1,000 orders for C919 and more than 700 orders for ARJ21.

For COMAC, the increase in order size has brought more confidence to explore new paths, such as the previously disclosed plan to develop a shortened and extended C919, and a cooperation plan with Tibet Airlines to develop a high-end prototype. At the same time, it also includes a new project that will independently develop a long-range widebody C929.

At the same time, COMAC is also facing a major problem is how to increase production capacity as soon as possible and increase delivery. According to unofficial statistics, in addition to the delivery of two C919s, COMAC will also deliver more than 20 ARJ21s in 2023, although it seems to be a good data, but in fact, the delivery of ARJ21 has declined significantly year-on-year, and the growth rate is not optimistic compared with previous years. If the C919 still needs a stage of capacity ramp-up in the early stage of delivery, and the slowdown in the delivery of the ARJ21, a relatively mature model, I am afraid that there are other problems in addition to production factors, which are problems that COMAC urgently needs to solve.

Editor-in-charge: Huang Xingli Editor-in-chief: Han Feng