C919 to operate more domestic routes in new flight season

China's civil aviation sector commenced its 2026 summer-autumn flight season on Sunday, with more routes featuring the domestically produced C919 large passenger aircraft in the new season.

The new flight season will run until November 24, lasting 210 days.

China Eastern Airlines began operating C919 on a new route on Sunday linking Xi'an, the provincial capital of Shaanxi in the northwest, with Xiamen, a coastal city in east China's Fujian Province. The airline also announced the resumption of a seasonal route linking Shanghai with Shenyang in northeast China's Liaoning Province, also operating C919.

China Southern Airlines plans to deploy its C919 planes on major routes from Guangzhou in south China's Guangdong Province to Beijing, Wuhan in central China's Hubei Province, and Nanjing in east China's Jiangsu Province.

Air China will add two more C919 destinations - Harbin in northeast China's Heilongjiang Province and Xiamen - during the new flight season to further expand the domestic aircraft's operation network.

"With the steady increase in the number of domestically produced civil aircraft, the C919 aircraft will appear at more domestic destinations in the new flight season," said Cui Hongqiang, deputy director of the Commercial Committee at Air China.

The C919 is a narrow-body passenger aircraft with a maximum capacity of 192 seats. It is China's first self-developed trunk jetliner, built in accordance with international airworthiness standards and featuring independently registered intellectual property rights.

C919 to operate more domestic routes in new flight season

Thousands rallied in Washington on Saturday against U.S.-Israeli strikes on Iran, denouncing the escalation and demanding an immediate halt to the war.

Protesters marched from surrounding areas into downtown Washington, converging on the National Mall outside the Capitol. They condemned the U.S.-Israeli strikes on Iran as unnecessary and warned the actions would backfire.

"Sending billions of dollars for what? I don't know. People in Gaza are suffering and being treated like dirt. People in Iran, all the innocent people being killed," said Danny, a protester at the rally.

Among the demonstrators was David, a U.S. veteran, who called the strikes on Iran unjust and warned the United States is heading down a dangerous path. He said the war will drag on without winners, with ripple effects that will burden the international community for years.

"A lot of people realize, the people in uniform who feel that this is not our war, this is not a war that's winnable, begun to see the consequences. These disruptions are going to take decades to overcome. Already we are destabilizing the global economy," he said.

The protests followed joint U.S.-Israeli strikes on Tehran and other Iranian cities on Feb. 28, which killed Iran’s former Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei along with senior commanders and civilians.

Thousands rally in Washington against US-Israeli strikes on Iran