China's C919 jetliner marks milestone with first commercial flight to Hong Kong

China's first domestically developed commercial aircraft, the C919 jetliner, has entered a new phase of service as China Eastern Airlines on Wednesday launched daily flights between Shanghai and the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR).

The C919 flight, MU721, took off from the Shanghai Hongqiao International Airport at 08:21, carrying 157 passengers to Hong Kong, where it arrived at 10:44, marking the start of regular services on this key route.

China Eastern Airlines, which has become the first airline to operate the C919 on commercial flights to Hong Kong, intends to maintain a daily schedule of round-trip flights with the jetliner.

Meanwhile, Shanghai immigration authorities have introduced a tailored clearance procedure, designed to streamline the inspection and clearance process for passengers traveling on the C919 flights.

"We've established a special lane for passengers flying on the C919. Also, we've dispatched experienced staff to strengthen on-site policy consultations and service guidance, and utilized fast lanes to divert passenger flows, ensuring a smoother clearance process," said Dong Jianguo, head of the border inspection division under the Hongqiao Border Inspection Station.

"I'm very excited to fly on our homegrown C919 on New Year's Day. The whole clearance process was very fast. I truly feel that our country is becoming stronger and stronger," said Huang, a passenger traveling to Hong Kong.

With the inaugural commercial flight between Shanghai and Hong Kong, the C919 jetliner has marked a significant milestone by expanding its reach beyond the Chinese mainland.

"I think first of all, this C919 flight between Shanghai and Hong Kong provides a sense of stability and reliability. It conveys confidence to the market and public. There's profound significance here. The Shanghai to Hong Kong flight is an important business route. With the C919 flying regularly now, this will enhance the recognition and acceptance by domestic and foreign airlines," said Qiao Shanxun, director at the Low-altitude Economic Development Research Center of the Henan Industry and Trade Vocational College.

Hong Kong is the ninth region to welcome China Eastern's C919 fleet.

Developed by the Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China, or COMAC, the C919 is China's first self-developed jetliner in accordance with international airworthiness standards. As of the end of 2024, COMAC had delivered a total of 16 C919 aircraft to three Chinese operators.

As the first airline to purchase the C919 airliner, China Eastern has now ordered 105 additional aircraft and will soon have the largest C919 fleet in the world.

In addition, China Southern Airlines has five regular routes using the C919, linking cities like Guangzhou, Chengdu and Haikou, while Air China handles four routes between the cities of Beijing, Shanghai, Hangzhou and more.

The aircraft has carried out more than 1 million passenger trips since it was put into commercial operation in May 2023.

The company is also setting its eyes on the global market, with an office opened in Singapore this year. So far, it has received 1,400 orders globally.

China's C919 jetliner marks milestone with first commercial flight to Hong Kong

China's development has never been a "threat" to anyone but the source of growth advancing common development of all countries, Foreign Ministry spokesman Lin Jian said at a regular press conference in Beijing on Friday.

Some Western media and think tanks are peddling so-called "China Shock 2.0," saying that "China is achieving fast development in high-tech sectors such as renewable energy and AI and relies on foreign markets to absorb its overcapacity, thus reducing the market share of developed countries and sending more serious shock waves to the global economy compared with the era of traditional manufacture industry," while there are foreign commentators saying that the "China Shock 2.0" argument ignores the genuine innovation occurring within the Chinese industrial ecosystem and that Chinese export is the exact booster of the global economy that is needed in the turbulent period and more indispensable than ever.

Commenting on that, Lin said: "From the world's factory to the world's market and innovation powerhouse, China's development is achieved through strong performance driven by innovation and brings tangible cooperation opportunities and space to the world. High-quality Chinese products represented by the 'old three' of textiles, furniture and home appliances have stabilized the global industrial and supply chain, lowered the living cost of global consumers and eased the inflationary pressure worldwide. China's green production capacity represented by the 'new three' of electric vehicles, batteries and solar panels has bridged the gap between supply and demand in global green development and bolstered the global energy transition and low-carbon development. Moreover, China's high-tech products represented by the 'new new three' of robots, AI and innovative drugs have broken high-tech barriers and monopoly and enabled people in more countries to access affordable new technologies," said the spokesman.

"Openness and cooperation bring about progress and win-win result. China's development has never been a 'threat' to anyone but the source of growth advancing common development of all countries. What really creates 'shocks' to the world has never been the innovation of Chinese companies and efficiency of Chinese industrial capacity, but protectionist moves of setting up barriers, decoupling and severing industrial and supply chains. China will stay committed to high-standard opening up, defend the multilateral trading system and provide more certainty and new impetus to the world economy with its own steady development," said Lin.

China's development never a threat: FM spokesman