ROUTES - C909 starts to operate in second high plateau route

With the smooth landing of C909 themed aircraft "Swan" of Chengdu Airlines at Hejing Bayinbuluke Airport with an elevation of 2,506.85 meters on June 23rd, 2026, the Urumqi=Hejing=Kashgar route was officially opened. This is the second high plateau route operated by C909 aircraft after the Kashgar=Taxkorgan route, marking another verification of the adaptability of China-made commercial aircraft in complex operating environments and injecting strong aerial momentum into the peak tourist season of the Bayanbulak grassland in Xinjiang.

On the same day, Hejing Bayinbuluke Airport held an opening ceremony, welcoming the C909 aircraft with the highest civil aviation honor, a water salute. The airport has ushered in a civil aviation scheduled passenger transport route for the first time since its opening in August 2024. From the early temporary take-offs and landings of the King Air 350 aircraft to the current scheduled flights operated by C909 aircraft, aircraft model iteration and route densification have driven the high plateau airport of Hejing Bayinbuluke to achieve a leapfrog development from "being built" and "being put into operation" to "flying well". 

 

Bayanbulak is a national-level eco-tourism area, featuring world-class natural landscapes such as the "Nine Bends and Eighteen Turns". Previously, people traveling to Bayanbulak from Urumqi or Kashgar mainly depend on long-distance regular passenger coaches, trains or self-driving, or transfer at Korla Airport, which is time-consuming. After the Urumqi=Hejing=Kashgar route was opened, the traveling time by air from the two places to Bayanbulak has been shortened to about one hour, which significantly enhances the convenience of travel. 

Hejing Bayinbuluke Airport is the second high plateau airport in Xinjiang (civil aviation standard: elevation ≥ 2,438 meters). It has a unique geographical environment and complex meteorological conditions, and is directly confronted with multiple challenges such as high elevation, barometric depression and air blast. The opening of this route not only fills the gap of civil aviation routes at the airport, but also becomes a key fulcrum for the development of tourism resources in Hejing County. This route significantly shortens the temporal and spatial distance with the outside world, improves the "three-dimensional transportation" system of Bayingolin Mongolian Autonomous Prefecture, accelerates the deep integration of transportation and cultural tourism industry, and has profound significance for promoting the upgrading of the tourism industry, promoting rural revitalization, and enhancing national unity. 

 

Several aircraft models of COMAC debut at Singapore Airshow 2026

COMAC attended the Singapore Airshow 2026 held at the Changi Exhibition Centre on February 3rd, showing C909 and C919 aircraft and further deepening exchanges and cooperation with its partners. During the airshow, C919 aircraft, C909 medical rescue aircraft, and C909 aircraft of TransNusa were jointly presented in the static display area, and C919 aircraft would conduct a demonstration flight.

C909 aircraft has a layout of 78 to 97 seats and a range of 2,225 to 3,700 kilometers, and has excellent take-off and landing performance and crosswind resistance at airports with short and narrow runways in high temperature and plateau conditions. C919 aircraft has a layout of 158 to 192 seats and a range of 4,075 to 5,555 kilometers, and adopts an advanced cockpit design to provide pilots with pleasant flight experience, while low noise and fresh air offer passengers comfortable riding experience. Up to now, a total of more than 200 aircraft of the two models have been delivered, and the aircraft have successively operated in more than 800 routes, and carried more than 36,000,000 passengers.

 COMAC has attached great importance to the Southeast Asian aviation market. In recent years, C909 aircraft have been successively put into operation in Indonesia, Laos and Vietnam, and a total of nine C909 aircraft operated by TransNusa, Lao Airlines and Vietjet Air have successively operated in more than 20 routes, carrying more than 700,000 passengers.

COMAC has been continuously promoting the series development of its aircraft products. For the first time in Southeast Asia, it showed C909 medical rescue aircraft equipped with ophthalmic diagnosis and treatment equipment and having the conditions for ophthalmic surgery. C909 medical rescue aircraft is developed and modified from the basic model. The cabin of the aircraft can be flexibly laid out according to different needs, which can meet the requirements of various application scenarios including providing medical rescue, transferring patients and transporting medical teams.

COMAC will insist on the principle of being customer centered, continuously improve its products and customer service network to better meet the needs of customers in Southeast Asia and around the world, and be committed to providing reliable new options for the civil air transport market.

AIRCRAFT - First C909 medical rescue aircraft delivered to China Flying Dragon General Aviation

The first C909 medical rescue aircraft was delivered to China Flying Dragon General Aviation Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "China Flying Dragon General Aviation") in Zhengzhou, Henan Province on September 9th, 2025, marking a new expansion in the serial development of China-made commercial aircraft. After delivery, the aircraft would be put into service for emergency rescue, telemedicine and critical care transfer.
The C909 medical rescue aircraft has a maximum design payload of 10 tons and a standard range of up to 3,700 kilometers, and is capable of taking off and landing at high plateau airports. The cabin layout of the aircraft can be flexibly modified according to different rescue needs, which can meet the requirements of various application scenarios including transporting medical teams, providing remote-area assistance and transferring patients.

China Flying Dragon General Aviation is China's first local general aviation company approved by the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC). It is affiliated to Zhongyu Aviation Group Co., Ltd. Its business covers multiple fields such as aviation emergency rescue, police flights, geophysical surveying and mapping, and short haul transportation. It has long been responsible for air support tasks for major national events and emergencies. As the first user of C909 medical rescue aircraft, China Flying Dragon General Aviation will rely on its rich emergency rescue experience and operation system to explore the establishment of a nationwide aviation medical rescue network, and will expand air medical services along the "Belt and Road" to gradually form a development mode that is domestically based, has a regional coverage, and extends to the international market.
Aviation medical care utilizes aircraft to provide medical rescue, medical transfer and other services, and has the characteristics of fast response, wide rescue range and high rescue efficiency. The delivery of the C909 medical rescue aircraft will provide a new option for improving the domestic air medical support system and enhancing emergency response capabilities.

 

ROUTES - TransNusa opens direct flight route of Manado-Pudong

China Aircraft Leasing Co., Ltd. announced that its Indonesian airline TransNusa had officially opened a regular direct flight route from Manado, Indonesia (MDC) to Pudong, Shanghai (PVG) on May 7th, 2025, further expanding the air corridor between China and Indonesia and deepening the economic, trade, investment, cultural and tourism exchanges between the two countries. This route would be operated by C909 aircraft, marking the continuous expansion of the application scope of C909 aircraft in the international market and further recognition of the commercialization and internationalization capabilities of the regional transportation network.

The newly opened route of Manado=Pudong is currently the only direct flight route between the two places (with a technical stop in Clark, Philippines, and passengers do not need to disboard), and it is also a regional interconnection route under "The Belt and Road Initiative", which especially demonstrates the humanistic and economic connections of the "Maritime Silk Road". This route was launched and put into service on May 7th, and operated by the C909 aircraft of TransNusa, providing passengers with a comfortable, pleasant, convenient and fast medium-haul journey. After the route was opened, it was planned to operate four flights on every Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday.

On the day of the inaugural flight, TransNusa held an inaugural flight ceremony at terminal building T2 of Pudong International Airport. Leaders from units such as Consulate General of the Republic of Indonesia in Shanghai, CAAC East China Regional Administration, Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China, Ltd. (COMAC), Shanghai Airport Authority and China Everbright Limited attended the ceremony and made speeches. Representatives and guests from relevant units such as Lingang section, public security bureau, customs, frontier station, financial institutions and media in Shanghai witnessed the inaugural flight together.

This is the second regular route operated by the C909 aircraft of TransNusa to a first-tier city in China and a complex gateway hub. This route includes a technical stop in the Philippines, with a block time of up to 6 hours in a one-way trip, which further verifies the economic efficiency, adaptability and reliability of the C909 aircraft in international route operations, and extends the service range of the C909 aircraft at the same time. Previously, TransNusa has already launched direct flights between Manado and Guangzhou with C909 aircraft. As of April this year, the C909 aircraft of TransNusa had been put into commercial service for two years. Significant progress and initial results had been achieved in both the operation and the commercial performance of the fleet, with a cumulative number of passengers carried exceeding 270,000

COMAC
 

FLEET - C909 aircraft completes inaugural flight in Laos

C909 aircraft of Lao Airlines operating flight QV331 took off from Vientiane Wattay International Airport on April 12th, 2025, and arrived at Pakse International Airport at 11:17 Beijing time, successfully completing its first commercial flight.

 

This C909 aircraft was delivered to Lao Airlines on March 30th, 2025 by Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China, Ltd. (COMAC) on a lease basis. Lao Airlines plans to use C909 aircraft to operate domestic routes in Laos and gradually expand to international routes in the future. COMAC will continue to provide customer service and operation support, make every effort to ensure the safe and efficient operation of C909 aircraft in Laos, and promote the root taking and development of China-made aircraft in the Southeast Asian aviation market.

 COMAC

FLEET - First C909 aircraft delivered to Lao Airlines

Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China, Ltd. (COMAC) delivered the first C909 aircraft to Lao Airlines on March 30th, 2025. This is the first time for a China-made passenger jet to enter the Laomarket, marking a new step in the international development of China's commercial aircraft.


This C909 aircraft has a registration number of RDPL-34229, and has a 90-seat all-economy class layout. The interior and exterior identifications and placards are in Laotian, the exterior painting is custom-designed, and the tail is printed with Champa flower, the national flower of Laos. It is delivered to Lao Airlines on a lease basis, and will enter into route operation after a series of preparatory work is completed in Laos.

C909 aircraft is a turbofan regional jet independently developed by China. It has a range of 2,225 to 3,700 kilometers, and is capable of operating on most domestic routes in Laos and surrounding international routes. In addition, C909 aircraft has good high-temperature performance and can take off and land on short and narrow runways, showing strong adaptability to the operating environment in Southeast Asia. Up to now, a total of 162 C909 aircraft have been delivered, which have accumulatively served in 645 routes in 158 cities, and safely carried more than 20 million passengers.

The Civil Aviation Authority of Laos issued an Aircraft Type Acceptance Certificate (ATC) for the C909 aircraft to COMAC on March 18th, 2025, indicating that the aircraft has met the basic conditions for commercial operation in Laos. COMAC has set up a special team to assist Lao Airlines with preparatory tasks, including manual preparation, personnel training, aviation material support, and maintenance capacity building. COMAC has also dispatched a support team of professionals from the flight, cabin crew, operation control, maintenance, and other areas to fully ensure the safe and efficient operation of the C909 aircraft in Laos.

Lao Airlines, as a flag carrier, plays an important role in the civil aviation transport industry of Laos and is an important force in promoting connectivity between Laos and surrounding regions. At present, Lao Airlines is expanding its capacity and renewing its fleet. Leasing the C909 aircraft will help the airline supplement its capacity and upgrade its fleet to meet the growing development needs of the air travel market in Laos.

COMAC