The seventh C919 jetliner joined the China Eastern Airlines fleet on Monday in Shanghai, indicating the acceleration of commercial operation of China's homegrown large passenger aircraft.
The plane, the third one delivered to China Eastern this year, landed at Shanghai Hongqiao International Airport on Monday afternoon, following a short flight from Shanghai Pudong International Airport.
So far, the homemade aircraft fly on four regular commercial routes from Shanghai to Chengdu, Beijing, Xi'an and Guangzhou. With the delivery and introduction of new planes, the flights and routes will be extended further.
During the current summer travel rush, the load factor of C919 operated by China Eastern reached nearly 90 percent.
As of Sunday, the C919 fleet of the airline had completed 3,031 flights in total, with nearly 405,000 passenger trips handled.
The C919, China's first self-developed trunk jetliner, is designed to carry 158 to 192 passengers, with a range of 4,075 to 5,555 km, capable of performing medium-range route tasks. Developed by Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China, Ltd., the plane conducted its successful maiden flight in 2017.
China Eastern Airlines gets 7th C919 aircraft
The European Central Bank (ECB) announced on Thursday that it would slash key interest rates by 25 basis points in a bid to wind down the restrictive monetary policy.
Effective from March 12, the interest rates on the deposit facility, the main refinancing operations and the marginal lending facility will be decreased to 2.50 percent, 2.65 percent and 2.90 percent respectively, said the central bank in a statement.
The disinflation process is well on track, with headline inflation averaging 2.3 percent in 2025, 1.9 percent in 2026 and 2.0 percent in 2027, the ECB said.
The decision to keep on cutting rates came at a time when the economy in the eurozone is facing increasing uncertainties.
In its latest edition of the staff projections on Thursday, the ECB lowered its forecast for economic growth in the eurozone to 0.9 percent for 2025, 1.2 percent for 2026 and 1.3 percent for 2027.
This marks a downward revision from the ECB's forecast in December last year, which had projected 1.1 percent growth in 2025 and 1.4 percent in 2026, while the 2027 outlook remains unchanged.
The ECB attributed the weaker growth outlook for 2025 and 2026 to declining exports and sluggish investment, citing high trade policy uncertainty and broader economic instability as key factors.
ECB cuts interest rates by 25 basis points
