CHINA's first domestically-manufactured large passenger jet, the C919, built by the Commercial Aviation Corporation of China (Comac) in the hope of breaking the dominance of Airbus and Boeing's single-aisle jets, has successfully completed its maiden commercial flight.
Bearing the symbolic number MU9191, the flight operated by China Eastern Airlines and carrying 130 passengers left Shanghai's Hongqiao airport on Sunday morning and landed at Beijing's Capital Airport about two hours later.
The 164-seater still relies heavily on Western components, including engines and avionics, reports BBC.
Designed to compete with large jumbo jets from Europe's Airbus and the US airplane maker Boeing, the C919 can carry many more passengers and has a much longer range than its little brother, the ARJ21 - China's first domestic jet, in service since 2016.
Airbus and Boeing offered their congratulations on the flight via social media.
State-backed China Eastern Airline has ordered five of the newer, bigger planes.
Comac - which plans to produce 150 planes annually in five years' time - says it has already secured more than 1,200 orders for the C919.
Some experts, however, say that most of these orders are believed to be letters of intent from domestic customers.
The C919 made its first test flight in 2017 and has undergone several similar flights since.