Commercial passenger operation planned in 2021 for C919 jetliner

NANJING - With many test flight missions accomplished, China's homegrown C919 jumbo jet plans to get an airworthiness certificate from the country's civil aviation authorities in 2021, according to the C919's chief designer Wu Guanghui.

Wu, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering and vice president of the jet's manufacturer, the Commercial Aircraft Corp. of China (COMAC), said that the twin-engine narrow-body trunk jetliner will benchmark against Boeing and Airbus airliners as it goes into operation.

The C919 completed a maiden flight in Shanghai on May 5, 2017, with five crew members on board but no passengers. The fourth C919 prototype made its first test flight and underwent various inspections and system checks last week.

COMAC has so far received 815 orders for the C919 planes and will carry out intensive test flights in the second half of this year.