China's C919 jet makes first international commercial flight

China's homegrown C919 jet completed its first international commercial flight on Wednesday. The C919 jet was produced by the state-owned Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China (COMAC) and operated by Air China, and it will connect Beijing and Ulaanbaatar with one round-trip flight per day.

It is a symbolic step towards Beijing's goal of challenging the decades-long aerospace dominance of Boeing and Airbus. The C919 completed its first commercial flight in May 2023, and since then it has been regularly used for domestic commercial routes, as well as those between mainland China and Hong Kong.

COMAC also sent the C919 to be presented at the Singapore airshow in 2024 and 2026, and to the Dubai airshow in 2025. COMAC has already made its foray into foreign markets with its smaller C909 jets, which seat 78 to 97 passengers.