C909 Chinese plane makes first international flight and aims at the global market

The Chinese regional plane C909, previously known as ARJ21, held on Tuesday (1st) its first international flight, connecting China to Mongolia. The aircraft departed from Baita International Airport, in Höh Hot, the capital of the Chinese province of Mongolia Interior, and landed in Ulaanbaar, the capital of Mongolia.

With 74 passengers on board, the flight was received with the traditional baptism with water at destination. The aircraft, recorded as B‑605U and manufactured in June 2020, is set to 90 economy class seats on the 2‑3 layout.

The C909 went into commercial operation on June 28, 2016 by Chengdu Airlines, then named ARJ21, on the inaugural flight between Chengdu and Shanghai. In November 2024, he was officially renamed C909, aligning himself with the current nomenclature of Comac, which includes C919 and C929.

According to Comac, since the launch were delivered 166 units of the C909, which have already carried about 24 million passengers in more than 700 routes. In Xinjiang, 22 aircraft operated on 120 routes and carried 1.3 million passengers since June 2023.

In June this year, four daily flights were launched between Kashgar – in the western part of the Uiguur Autonomous Region of Sinquião – and Yining, in northwestern China, to meet the high demand of domestic tourism.

Currently, there are at least 149 C909 units in active operation and 380 awaiting delivery. The main operators include Air China, Chengdu Airlines, China Eastern, China Southern, Shantou Airlines, China Express, Genghis Khan Airlines, Jiangxi Airlines and Indonesia Transnusa.

The development of C909 is part of Comac’s strategy to expand the participation of the Chinese aeronautical industry in the domestic market, considered today the most potential in the world. The strategy also includes the C919 narrow fuselage plane, which has transported one million passengers since its commercial debut in 2022.