China Eastern Airlines today received the first airplane of the C-919 long-range airliner. It is the first aircraft produced almost entirely domestically by the State-owned Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China (Comac).

The plane performed its maiden flight in May 2017. In November 2022, Comac announced that it had received 300 orders for the model from Chinese leasing companies. The company previously said it has 815 C-919 orders from 28 customers, including GE Capital Aviation Services and Thailand's City Airways.

The aircraft is the pride of Beijing, which has promoted its development and construction with the intention of competing with the aircraft built by rival companies: the B-737 of the US Boeing, the A-320 of the European Airbus. The single-aisle aircraft seats 164 passengers and has a range of 4075 to 5555 kilometers. The Chinese Communist Party is betting on the aircraft to reduce Beijing's dependence on foreign products.