COMAC C919 Wins Its CAAC Type Certificate Five Years After First Flight

• COMAC's own timeline lists the CAAC type certificate on 29 September 2022; Sam Chui reports a ceremony at Beijing Capital Airport^[1][2]
• The milestone came five years after the maiden flight and about eight years after the original 2014 first-flight target; COMAC had applied to CAAC for the certificate in October 2010^[3][5]
• AirlineGeeks said the company expected to deliver the first aircraft to China Eastern before the end of 2022 and noted the ARJ21 had waited 11 months from certificate to first delivery^[5]
• Agency Partners analyst Sash Tusa called certification 'clearly positive' but said Chinese regulators are 'extremely risk averse'; the jet could fly only in China until foreign regulators such as EASA validated it^[1]
• Foreign validation has been slow: by 2025 EASA's chief said approval would take three to six years, and EASA test pilots flew verification flights in Shanghai in January 2026^[3]

Notable features

• C919-100 standard range: 158 to 192 seats (China Eastern: 164 in two classes, 8 business and 156 economy); length 38.9 m (127 ft 7 in), wingspan 35.8 m (117 ft 5 in); two CFM LEAP-1C engines^[3][4]
• Maximum takeoff weight 75,100 kg (standard) and 78,900 kg (extended range); range at standard payload 4,139 km (2,235 nmi) standard and 5,576 km (3,011 nmi) extended; cruise Mach 0.785; ceiling 12,131 m^[3][4]
• Takeoff field length at maximum weight, sea level, ISA: 2,052 m (6,732 ft) standard; landing field length 2,043 m^[4]