An Air China C919 aircraft Photo: Screenshot from CARNOC.com
Starting Wednesday, home-made C919 aircraft will fly a daily international route from Beijing to Ulan Bator in Mongolia, marking the first routine international passenger service for the Chinese-built jet.
According to Air China’s official App, the flight will depart Beijing Capital International Airport at 3 pm and arrive in Ulan Bator at 5:15 pm local time. The return flight will leave Ulan Bator at 6:30 pm and arrive in Beijing at 8:35 pm.
The C919 is a narrow-body passenger aircraft with a maximum capacity of 192 seats. It is China’s first self-developed trunk jetliner, built in accordance with international airworthiness standards and featuring independently registered intellectual property rights.
The newly launched direct flight route is not merely the inauguration of a new commercial route, but also a milestone that marks the official entry of China’s homegrown large aircraft into the international civil aviation transport market, Wang Yanan, editor-in-chief of Beijing-based Aerospace Knowledge magazine, told the Global Times on Tuesday.
In his view, Ulan Bator, roughly 1,200 kilometers from Beijing, is a natural choice for the inaugural route. Its manageable distance allows for same-day round trips, meaning domestic technical support can be on hand quickly during the initial phase. That not only ensures safety and efficiency but also helps build know-how for international operations – all in keeping with a prudent, pragmatic approach to growth.
What matters more, though, is the practical value this route brings, Wang noted. Mongolia’s highland climate – with its short summers and harsh winters – poses fresh challenges for failure patterns, maintenance procedures, and spare parts stocking.
Yet it is only by operating in such varied conditions that we can collect real data, test the aircraft’s adaptability, and refine a robust support framework; ultimately, it is through weathering these diverse environments that China’s large aircraft will earn its global operational credentials, according to Wang.
The C919 has already accumulated operational experience on regional routes. It completed its first commercial flight from Shanghai to Beijing on May 28, 2023. On New Year’s Day 2025, China Eastern Airlines became the first carrier to deploy the C919 on scheduled flights between Shanghai and Hong Kong. In November 2025, Air China also began operating the C919 on regular flights between Beijing and Hong Kong.
The C919 has safely transported more than 5 million passenger trips since entering commercial service three years ago, and has reached 23 cities in its flight network, its producer the Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China said on its official WeChat account on May 28 this year.