The COMAC C919 aircraft makes its first commercial scheduled flight into Hong Kong, receiving a rapturous reception from RTHK…
The homegrown passenger jet, operated by China Eastern airlines and carrying around 160 passengers, took off from Shanghai Hongqiao International Airport at 8.15am on Sunday and landed in the SAR about two and a half hours later.
Passengers were treated to an exceptional travel experience, with each of them receiving a special framed boarding pass – printed with the flight number, date, as well as the letters “C919” – as a souvenir.
…13-year-old Joe, a flying enthusiast, flew solo.
“I think the control of noise is very nice. Because it’s the first aircraft of China and in some ways it’s even better than Boeing and Airbus. The seats… are really comfortable,” he said.
“The meal was really good… We had this sort of Shanghai cake and another cake that had C919 letters on it and it was very delicious.”
This is its first ‘international’ flight, though no-one wants to use that word. Local officials do all they can to talk it up…
The inaugural flights of the domestically-produced C919 aircraft between Shanghai and Hong Kong have opened a “new chapter” for the SAR as an international aviation hub, transport and logistics chief Mable Chan said on Wednesday.
…Speaking at a welcoming ceremony at the Hong Kong International Airport, Chan said she feels honoured to witness the historic moment on New Year’s Day.
“Hong Kong is the first city beyond the other mainland cities to have this kind of commercial flight. So we are especially happy to see this flight materialise on the first day of 2025,” she said.
“We hope that through this commercial flight, we can bring this historical innovation breakthrough in the mainland’s production of civil aviation aircraft to our Hong Kong citizens, as well as to the international visitors coming to Hong Kong.”
An expert says the new model will help Hong Kong become an aviation engineering hub…
“In the past 50 or 60 years, Hong Kong has worked as an [aviation hub], but due to the lack of a local aircraft manufacturer, it is not an aircraft or aviation engineering hub,” Jason Li told RTHK.
He noted that Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China (COMAC), the Shanghai-based manufacturer of the C919, was increasing its engineering investment in the SAR.
“Now, as you can see… COMAC is putting more China-produced C919 into Hong Kong. They are building an engineering team in Hong Kong,” said Li.
“You can see that aviation [requires] a comprehensive engineering team. There are so many different parts; mechanical, electronic etc. So there will be much more career opportunities for local young people,” he said.
He said the choice of Hong Kong as the C919’s first destination outside mainland China shows the city’s important role in advancing the national aviation sector.
“China is encouraging and letting more enterprises demonstrate their newest technology and the business in Hong Kong,” he said.
Any new model of aircraft flying into any city will generate some extra maintenance requirements. That’s it.
So what is the C919? The name was deliberately chosen to echo Boeing’s system of classifying aircraft – B707, B727, B737, etc. Although it is touted as China’s first wide-bodied airliner, the most important parts – like the avionics and engines – are mainly Western-designed. The model is similar to an Airbus A320/Boeing 737, aimed at serving short- to medium-range routes. But, despite being more recently developed, it has a shorter range, lower passenger capacity, and higher per-passenger fuel consumption than its rivals, plus (as a new model) higher operating costs. But it is cheaper to buy (by some estimates, half the price). It is still awaiting certification in major international markets. Maybe the C929, C939 etc will be more impressive.
The WSJ wishes China a happy new year…
China’s property meltdown has since 2021 destroyed around $18 trillion of Chinese household wealth [equivalent to US$60,000 per household], according to an estimate by Barclays, eclipsing the losses suffered by Americans in the financial crash of 2008-09. That hit, along with the trauma of Beijing’s heavy-handed response to the Covid-19 pandemic, helps explain why Chinese consumers aren’t spending freely.
The article goes on to say that the wealth ‘destroyed’ is equivalent to the entire market cap of China’s stock market, or one year’s GDP. No overtaking the US economy before mid-century – if ever. And then: the shrinking population; government, household and corporate debt approaching 300% of annual GDP; and over-investment (including 80 million empty homes) and outsized industrial production, causing looming disputes with overseas trading partners.
From Sixthtone, one of the millions of personal stories behind the bursting of China’s property bubble – a 28-year-old woman who bought an apartment that was never finished, but she moved in anyway…
As the building had no electricity, during the decoration phase I had hired an electrician to help wire my apartment to a temporary power box in the hallway. The developer’s workers would disconnect the wire every night. I didn’t know how to connect it myself, so on that first night in my new home I remained in near darkness.
For the first few nights, I’d turn on a tiny light. The developer had issued a statement saying that, as the site was still under construction, people were not allowed to live there. Security guards patrolled with flashlights at night, so I didn’t dare make my room too bright. But no matter how small the light, because the whole building was pitch black, I think it could still have been seen from outside.
Sometimes the security guard would knock on my door and ask why I hadn’t left yet, thinking I was just working on the place. I said I’d leave immediately after installing something. He didn’t think I actually lived there. But sometimes I would think, “This is my apartment. Why should I act like a thief and hide every day?”
That part of the Sixthtone story quoted doesn’t ring true in any way. (Apart from maybe the illegal electrical connection from a temporary box to an apartment’s main board, although that would be a one-time deal, I don’t see workers carefully disconnecting it every night and then reconnecting in the morning). She’s terrified of security finding her… but has free come-and-go access during the day? Actually I regret clicking the link as many details in the story would be odd/wrong/made-up to anyone who’s spent any time on Chinese construction sites.
And, looking at the “now” photos, this woman who earns RMB4,000 a month is now living in a pretty swish 620sq ft apartment she owns? The horror! Come to HK, she can spend 100% of her salary to rent a car-park space in a Yuen Long industrial building, now that could be an interesting made-up story~
Brilliant Ideas 2025 Number 1:
Want more tourists to say overnight? Re-introduce the 3% hotel tax!
Although it is touted as China’s first wide-bodied airliner, the most important parts – like the avionics and engines – are mainly Western-designed. The model is similar to an Airbus A320/Boeing 737, aimed at serving short- to medium-range routes.
How is a C919 a wide-bodied aircraft? It’s a single aisle 3-3 seating narrow body similar to a 737 or A320.
I can imagine how many buttholes were puckered extra tight (all!) for that 2+ hr flight from Shanghai. They were essentially guinea pigs for the CCP. I’m sure Mable was thrilled when she was voluntold to get on that “historic” flight.
“…debt approaching 300% of annual GDP; and over-investment (including 80 million empty homes) and outsized industrial production, causing looming disputes with overseas trading partners.” Add commercial aircraft to that list, I guess.
Oh good – we can have yet another ‘hub’ – all the others have paid off so well
“…the most important parts – like the avionics and engines – are mainly Western-designed.”
“… and mainly western made”. The engines are US/French-made CFM LEAP 1C, which is a technology-limited variant offered to China with the full knowledge that it’ll be copied instantly. China’s attempt to make a commercial engine locally is currently 8 years behind schedule.
Some of the simpler avionics are made by a local J.V. but the ones that matter are all imported from the US (Honeywell).
The design of the aircraft itself owes more than a little to Bombardier.
COMAC has succeeded in riviting together a large aluminum tube.
If our government stopped giving away useless and environmentally unfriendly crap on every occasion, handing out single use apparel, slathering the city in rows of identical banners, etc, it would go a long way to resolving the budget deficit, not to mention reducing the workload of street cleaners and extending the life of our landfills.
And then there is the cost of transporting officials to the interminable and now daily rah rah. Don’t they have anything to do back at the office?
@Pandas are the best!
And it would still be incredible if they manage to certify it in the West, which they will need to do if they want to dump it onto Eastern European markets.
Where else in the world has the C919 been given the blessing to operate? Anywhere that actually matters?
“COMAC has succeeded in riveting together a large aluminum tube.”
It might be a little too soon to say that it won’t be the aeronautical equivalent of the high-speed death train… can’t have all that many cycles on any of ’em yet. Then add maintenance prevention (instead of preventative maintenance). Chaa bat dou 919!
On the hike home fetching provisions recently, I asked a chap who was giving his Glorious Motherland-brand Alphart look-a-like the obligatory spread-the-dust-&-scratch-the-clear-coat wipe down if it was electric. He replied it was a right POS & don’t buy anything made in China.
Was tempted to warn him that it’s perhaps unwise to be so unpatriotic right across the street from a Disciplined Services Quarters – could be some of the empty flats have been taken over by National Insecurity coppers.
Talk of Hong Kong “becoming” an international aviation engineering hub seemingly ignores the fact that it has already been one for decades. HAECO, set up in Hong Kong in 1950, services the planes of numerous airlines worldwide. But perhaps if it’s not from the mainland, it doesn’t count.
“But perhaps if it’s not from the mainland, it doesn’t count.”
Spot on.
Perhaps Swire didn’t shoot itself in the foot by selling too much of HAECO to The Party like it did with Carpet Pathetic?
Alternative musical selection for today: https://youtu.be/bUvYhh9R-GE
Mable treading a very careful international flight line there. If she pushed it a bit further I’d say she might have to have a cup of tea with the relevant authorities