Comac has begun a series of high-altitude test flights of its C919 aircraft in Tibet as part of a program to develop a high-altitude variant of its narrowbody airliner.
The test aircraft took off from Chengdu Shuangliu International Airport of Sichuan on September 19, 2024, and landed at Lhasa Kongga International Airport. Xizang after a flight of two hours and eight minutes.
This was the first time that the C919 aircraft has flown to Lhasa, where it met with an ARJ21 aircraft to carry out the test flights from the Qinghai-Xizang Plateau, a region also known as the roof of the world because it is the world’s largest and highest plateu.
Lhasa Kongga International Airport is located in the Yarlung Zangbo River valley, with an elevation of 11,708ft (3,569m). The airport is surrounded by mountainous terrain with a complex and changeable meteorological environment, providing high requirements for the high-altitude performance of aircraft.
The C919 will carry out tests of critical systems, such as the environmental control system, the avionics system and the power plant system, and high plateau airport adaptability checks. This will lay a foundation for subsequently meeting the operational requirements of high plateau routes and the development of plateau versions of aircraft, said Comac.
The ARJ21 aircraft has been conducing demonstration flights around the Qinghai-Xizang Plateau since August 21 from Chengdu, Sichuan, Xining, Qinghai and Lhasa. The ARJ21 has flown 25 routes and 55 flight segments for 62 hours, covering 11 high plateau airports, and has flown 4 sorties at Daocheng Yading Airport, the highest civil airport in the world, which fully verifies the adaptability of ARJ21 aircraft to high plateau operation, said Comac (Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China).
Meanwhile, according to Chinese state media, a C919 conducted the first commercial flight powered by sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) last week.
The flight, which had 129 passengers onboard was between Beijing Daxing International Airport to Shanghai Hongqiao International Airport. It was operated by China Eastern Airlines is part of a trial China’s Civil Aviation Administration has called for.
