(Yicai) Sept. 20 -- China Southern Airlines has become the third carrier to wrap up a commercial flight using a C919 passenger jet, whose Chinese developer has applied for European Union certification for the aircraft.

Flight CZ3539 took off from Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport and landed at Shanghai Hongqiao International Airport yesterday before returning to Guangzhou. The same C919 jet will also ply the Guangzhou-Hangzhou route, a China Southern representative said.

Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China, which designed and builds the C919, delivered China Southern's first on Aug. 28. The Guangzhou-based airline expects to receive two more by the end of this year and start operating more routes, including one from Guangzhou to Beijing Daxing International Airport.

China Southern joins the other two big Chinese state-owned carriers -- Air China and China Eastern Airlines -- in using the C919. China Eastern was the first to receive the aircraft in December 2022, with its fleet having since grown to seven.

Comac is working to gain certification for the C919 from the European Union Aviation Safety Agency, a crucial step toward making the aircraft commercially viable in international markets, particularly in Europe. In July, an EASA delegation conducted an on-site inspection of the plane in Shanghai as part of its compliance process and gave “positive feedback.”

Gu Xin, director of the Shanghai Aircraft Airworthiness Certification Center, said earlier that he hopes the C919 will receive EU certification next year.

The C919 has already made several international flights. After participating in the Singapore Airshow and performing flight demonstrations in February, it was on show or did demo flights in Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Malaysia, and Indonesia, laying the groundwork for future expansion in the Southeast Asian market.

Since the C919’s commercial launch in May last year, it has clocked up over 10,000 flight hours on more than 3,700 commercial flights that carried in excess of 500,000 passengers, according to Shanghai-based Comac.

Editors: Tang Shihua, Martin Kadiev