Photo: Courtesy of COMAC

China's C919 high-altitude aircraft conducted its maiden flight test at Shanghai Pudong International Airport on Wednesday, completing all scheduled test subjects, according to the planemaker Commercial Aircraft Corp of China (COMAC). 

This marks an important step in the serialized development of the C919 program. Based on the baseline model, the high-altitude variant incorporates targeted design modifications, including a shortened fuselage and enhanced system functionalities, to meet plateau operation requirements, COMAC said.

The C919 high-altitude aircraft is one of the important derivative models in the C919 aircraft family development program. Built upon the base C919 model, it features a shortened fuselage and plateau-specific modifications to meet transportation requirements in high-altitude regions. 

With a seating capacity of 140 to 160 passengers, its takeoff and landing performance enables operation at all high-altitude airports within China, COMAC told the Global Times. 

The high-altitude aircraft is well-suited for domestic demand, especially for regions such as Southwest China's Yunnan Province and Xizang Autonomous Region, Guo Jia, a veteran market watcher, told the Global Times on Wednesday.

Due to geographic conditions, the demand for such models remains high, and this could give the C919 a competitive advantage over rivals such as planes from Airbus and Boeing, Guo said.

High-altitude airports generally refer to airports with an elevation of 1,524 meters or more above sea level, but below 2,438 meters.

In April 2023, Han Jun, deputy head of the Civil Aviation Administration of China, said that China currently has 43 airports that are no less than 1,524 meters above sea level, the most in the world.

Among them, 23 airports stand at altitudes of 2,438 meters or higher, while 20 airports are between 1,524 meters and 2,438 meters above sea level.

On February 20, 2024, Tibet Airlines finalized an order for 40 C919 and 10 ARJ21 jets from COMAC designed to be suitable for high-altitude plateaus.

As of July 20, according to data from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, 41 C919 large passenger aircraft have been delivered, with cumulative safe flight hours exceeding 130,000.

Air China will begin deploying the C919 aircraft on its daily Beijing Capital-Ulan Bator route starting on August 12, marking the first routine international passenger service for the Chinese-built jet.

Air China currently operates one daily C919 flight on the Beijing Capital-Hong Kong regional route, and it has so far taken delivery of 12 C919 aircraft.