China's domestically produced large passenger aircraft C919 completed its maiden commercial landing at a high-altitude airport on Monday, a breakthrough for China-manufactured civil aviation operations.
On Dec 1, China Eastern Airlines flight MU9179 touched down at an elevation of 1,948.7 meters at Lanzhou Zhongchuan International Airport, establishing commercial operations on the Shanghai–Lanzhou route.
The landing marked the first regular C919 commercial link between eastern and northwestern China and also the carrier's first deployment of the aircraft to an airport on a plateau. The airline will operate a daily round-trip between Shanghai Hongqiao and Lanzhou using the aircraft.
China Eastern Airlines currently operates 13 C919 aircraft, covering 13 Chinese cities with 15 regular routes connecting China's north, south, east, and west.
The airline's Gansu subsidiary said the debut represents a major extension of the aircraft's domestic operational network into a key northwestern transport hub, with Lanzhou serving as an important gateway along the Silk Road. The expanded operations will also support the continued accumulation of high-altitude flight data, which is critical for ongoing performance optimization and future model enhancements.
'Lanzhou airport belongs to the general plateau airport category. The C919 requires no special maintenance preparations, only standard preflight checks and routine deicing procedures,' said Zhen Kan, general manager of the Gansu branch of China Eastern Airlines Technic, in an interview with Lanzhou Daily.