On December 9th the first C919 aircraft, with tail number B-919A, was delivered to launch customer, China Eastern Airlines (CEA).

On the day of the delivery, a short maiden flight was made by three senior CEA pilots from the Shanghai Pudong International Airport to the Shanghai Hongqiao International Airport. On arrival it passed through a water gate and was officially commissioned into the fleet of CEA. It is expected to be put into commercial use in the spring of 2023.

The C919 is China's first homegrown large passenger aircraft in accordance with international airworthiness standards, and owns independent intellectual property rights.

A pattern of a Chinese seal reading "world's first C919" in Chinese is printed in the front part of the aircraft delivered.

The aircraft has a 164-seat configuration that comes with a two-class cabin layout, including eight business class seats and 156 economy class. In the economy cabin, the middle seat in each three-seat row is 1.5 cm wider than its neighbouring ones, which offers more comfort.

With an aisle height of 2.25 metres, the aircraft comes with an efficient air filtration system, a passenger-centric lighting system and low noise. There are twenty 12 inch drop-down screens that can play 1080P video.

CEA has a fleet of nearly 800.