COMAC ARJ21 (C909)

The COMAC ARJ21 has a clean record so far: no fatal accident and no aircraft written offHull lossAn accident in which an aircraft is destroyed or damaged beyond economic repair. People may or may not be hurt.More in the glossary since it entered service in 2016, up to 7 October 2026. That record is short. The fleet has flown fewer than a million passenger flights, about one thirtieth of what the Embraer E-Jet has flown, so it cannot yet show whether the ARJ21 is as safe as Western regional jets. The airline and the regulator matter more for now.

What the ARJ21 is

The ARJ21-700 is China's first home-built jet airliner to enter airline service, a regional jet with about 90 seats in a five-abreast cabin. It first flew in 2008, but certification by the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) took until 2014, and Chengdu Airlines flew the first passenger service in 2016. About 160 have been built, and about 150 are in service. In 2024 COMAC began selling it as the C909, next to its larger C919.

The layout looks old-fashioned for a new jet: two General Electric CF34-10A engines at the rear and a T-tail, like the Bombardier CRJ and the MD-80 series. It has a glass cockpit, and many of its systems come from Western suppliers. The long gap between first flight and service reflects a slow certification: it was the first jet of Chinese design that the CAAC had to approve for airline use.

Where you fly on one

Nearly every ARJ21 flight is in China. Chengdu Airlines, the launch customer, has the largest fleet. Air China, China Eastern and China Southern took deliveries from 2020 onwards, and smaller carriers such as Genghis Khan Airlines use it on routes in Inner Mongolia. A handful have gone to airlines in Southeast Asia. Neither the US FAA nor Europe's EASA has approved the type, which keeps it out of Western fleets.

Why a clean record says little yet

Fatal accidents on modern jets are rare: the safest types go many millions of flights between them. A type with under a million flights and no accident is where you would expect it to be, whether its true risk is low or merely average. Our methodology handles this by starting a new type from the average record of its design generation and moving it towards its own history as flights add up. For the ARJ21, the score mostly reflects that generation average.

The operating environment

The ARJ21 flies inside China's airline system, which has had a strong record for two decades. The last fatal regional jet crash in China was Henan Airlines 8387, an Embraer 190 that crashed short of the runway at Yichun on 24 August 2010, killing 44 of the 96 people on board. China's most recent fatal airline crash was China Eastern 5735, a Boeing 737-800 that dived from cruise on 21 March 2022, with 132 dead. Neither involved a Chinese-built aircraft.

Supply is the open question. The ARJ21 depends on US engines and many Western systems, so its support could suffer if export rules tighten. That is a business risk more than a flight safety risk today.

How to tell if you are on one

Flight trackers show the ICAO code AJ27. Chinese booking apps may list it as ARJ21, ARJ21-700 or C909. From outside, look for the two engines mounted beside the tail and the T-tail on top. If you fly domestically with Chengdu Airlines, especially on thinner regional routes, there is a good chance you are on one.