China’s C919 jet has officially left home soil for the first time, taking its first scheduled international passenger flight from Beijing to Mongolia.
The milestone marks a major step for China’s homegrown answer to Boeing and Airbus, although the jet still has plenty to prove before it can seriously challenge the aviation giants overseas.
According to flight tracker FlightRadar24 the flight, operated by Air China, took off from Beijing Capital International Airport and touched down around two hours later in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia.
The flight is the latest step in China’s plan to establish the state-owned Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China, aka COMAC.
It hopes it will act as a direct competitor in a global field currently dominated by United States-based Boeing and Europe’s Airbus.
Currently, though, the C919 still uses foreign components and it has also not been able to secure certification from major aviation regulators in Europe or the US, meaning it’s very limited in its ability to win over customers.
COMAC had initially aimed to have its jets entirely made in China by 2025 and to capture 10% of the country’s domestic market, but those goals have since passed.
The airline hopes the Beijing to Ulaanbaatar service will eventually operate daily and has been showing off its planes to the industry, most notably at the Dubai Airshow last November.
Are COMAC’s offerings realistic challengers to existing jets?
The C919 can carry up to 174 passengers and is a similar single-aisle narrow-body set up to Boeing’s 737 MAX and Airbus’s A320neo.
As of now, China’s domestic airlines still rely on Boeing and Airbus aircraft and, in May, the nation ordered 200 of the former’s planes, as well as spare parts and engines, so it’s clear that there’s a need for western technology as COMAC gears up to fly.
According to CNBC, COMAC delivered 32 C919s by the end of last year, and a further eight in the first half of 2026.
That’s a tiny amount compared to about 100 narrow-body Airbuses delivered to China in 2025 alone, and also far away from COMAC’s goal of producing 200 of its planes every year by 2029.
There’s also the fact that building the plane is only half the battle. COMAC also needs to prove it can make enough C919s and keep them running reliably once they’re in the air.
That means strengthening its supply chain, increasing production and making sure everything from engines to tiny components is readily available. Even a shortage of one small part can bring production to a halt.
For now, the C919 still has a long way to go before it can take on Boeing and Airbus globally. But its first international commercial flight is a significant step for China’s aviation industry, and one that could mark the beginning of a much bigger challenge to the world’s two biggest plane makers.
