Pomp and circumstance greeted the arrival of China Eastern Airlines flight MU9191 in Beijing's Capital Airport on Sunday. Chinese state broadcasters streamed the entire flight, which departed from Shanghai. Two fire engines greeting the arriving jet with a water salute. Passengers on the flight itself got a special menu: claypot rice, mango pudding, and White Rabbit candy—a Shanghai specialty.
The celebration marked the first commercial flight of the C919, a single-aisle, narrow-body aircraft designed by the Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China (COMAC). Both COMAC and China hope the new plane can compete with Boeing's 737 Max and Airbus's A320, helping break the decades-long duopoly held by the two commercial aviation giants.
