(Yicai Global) Dec. 9 -- The first-ever C919 aircraft was delivered to China Eastern Airlines today, paving the way for the carrier to become the world’s first airline to operate the China-made large passenger plane.

The C919 will start flying in the spring of 2023 at the earliest, the airline said. As a new aircraft, although it has met the regulatory requirements of the Civil Aviation Administration of China, China Eastern needs to carry out at least 100 hours of flight tests to verify the plane’s safety, maintenance reliability and various operational guarantees.

China Eastern will soon start carrying out flight tests of the C919 in Beijing, Shanghai, Kunming in southeastern Yunnan province, Xi’an in central Shaanxi province, Chengdu in southeastern Sichuan province, as well as a few other domestic airports,  the Shanghai-based carrier said.

The arrival of the C919, which can seat up to 168 people and has a maximum range of 5,555 kilometers, marks the introduction of a third competitor in the narrow-body airliner market dominated by the US’ Boeing and France’s Airbus.

China Eastern ordered five C919s from manufacturer Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China in March last year, and the remaining four will be delivered next year.

Orders for 300 C919s jets were placed by seven airplane leasing firms, including China Development Bank Leasing and ICBC Financial Leasing, at the recent China International Aviation and Aerospace Exhibition in southern Hainan province.

However, COMAC will not be able to deliver many aircraft in the first year, as newly developed planes are generally made in small batches at first, before developing into bigger batches, a company source told Yicai Global.

China’s aircraft fleet will exceed 10,000 by 2041, accounting for 21 percent of the global total and making it the world’s largest aviation market, according to a recent COMAC forecast.

Editors: Shi Yi, Kim Taylor