C919 makes debut flight beyond Chinese mainland

China's first self-developed narrow-body jet C919 completed its first commercial chartered flight beyond Chinese mainland on Saturday, which marked the first round-trip service provided by the home-grown passenger aircraft between Shanghai and Hong Kong, according to official sources.

C919's first global customer China Eastern Airlines conducted the first commercial chartered flight from the Shanghai Hongqiao International Airport to the Hong Kong International Airport on Saturday morning, and the jetliner will start the return trip on the same day with more than 100 Hong Kong young talents onboard, according to the official Xinhua News Agency.

Being the nation's first trunk jetliner designed in accordance with international standards, C919 celebrated its first anniversary of commercial operation on Tuesday.

China Eastern received its sixth C919 jetliner on Monday in Shanghai from its manufacturer Commercial Aircraft Corp of China, or COMAC. Coded as B-919G.

In the past year, their previous five C919 jets have conducted 2,181 commercial flights and 6,090 hours of commercial operation, safely carrying about 300,000 passenger trips as of Monday.