China's C919 airliner begins regular Shanghai-Hong Kong flights

China Eastern Airlines started operating China's domestically-produced C919 jetliner for regular flights between Shanghai and Hong Kong on Wednesday.

Flight MU721 carrying 157 passengers took off from the Shanghai Hongqiao International Airport at 08:21 and arrived in Hong Kong at 10:44, marking the inauguration of this type of aircraft's regular services on this route.

China Eastern Airlines, the first airline to operate C919 for scheduled commercial flights to Hong Kong, currently plans to conduct daily round-trip flights with the jetliner.

Back in June 2024, China Eastern operated C919 for chartered flight to transport over 120 students from Hong Kong to Shanghai, indicating acceleration of commercial operation of the homegrown large passenger aircraft.

China Eastern currently has the largest fleet of C919 aircraft and operates the most C919 routes among all airlines. Since its inaugural commercial flight on May 28, 2023, the aircraft has served over 6,600 flights with cumulative over 16,000 flight hours, and carried more than 900,000 passengers.

China Eastern's C919 fleet now consists of 10 aircraft, flying to cities including Shanghai, Beijing, Chengdu, Xi'an, Guangzhou, Taiyuan, Chongqing, and Wuhan. With the addition of the Shanghai-Hong Kong route, the airline's C919 will operate nine premium routes to nine destinations.

The Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) Eastern Theater Command on Tuesday conducted drills in waters east of Taiwan Island, focusing on all-dimensional force projection, breaching and raids by elite forces, as well as the seizure of key ports, according to the theater command.

On Tuesday afternoon, task forces from the amphibious assault ship Hainan, along with those from destroyers, frigates, and unmanned aerial vehicles, carried out joint drills.