COMAC C919

The COMAC C919 has no serious accident so far, but it is too new to have a meaningful record. With about 25 aircraft built and roughly 72,000 passenger flights since 2023, a clean history says little: even the safest jets go tens of millions of flights between fatal crashes. Until there is far more data, judge it by the airlines that fly it and the regulator that oversees it.

Where you fly on a C919

The C919 is China's first large jet airliner built for the mass market. It first flew in 2017, received its type certificate from the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) in 2022 and carried its first passengers with China Eastern in May 2023, from Shanghai Hongqiao to Beijing. Air China and China Southern have since put it into service. Almost all flights are domestic.

You will not find it on European or American airlines. EASA, Europe's regulator, has not validated the type, and neither has the US FAA.

The design

The C919 is a twin-engined narrowbody in the size class of the A320 and 737, with about 160 seats in a typical layout. It has fly-by-wireFly-by-wireA flight control system in which the pilot's inputs go to computers, which then move the control surfaces. Many such systems also stop unsafe manoeuvres.More in the glossary controls and a modern glass cockpit, and it uses CFM LEAP-1C engines, a version of the engine on the A320neo and 737 MAX. Many other systems come from Western suppliers, often through joint ventures in China.

That supply chain is the main open question. The C919 depends on US and European parts, so production and support could suffer if export rules tighten. This is a business risk more than a flight safety risk today, but sanctions on the Sukhoi Superjet show how quickly parts support can change.

How we treat a type with almost no history

With so few flights, our methodology does not reward a new type for a spotless start. It starts the C919 from the average record of fourth-generation jets, the safest group, and moves it as real flights add up. The C919 scores like a typical modern jet, not like a proven one. If it keeps flying without accidents for millions of flights, its score will rise; one accident on so small a base would push it down hard.

COMAC's smaller regional jet, the ARJ21, has also flown without a fatal accident so far.

The operating environment

The C919 flies for China's three largest airlines under the CAAC, in one of the world's most tightly controlled aviation systems. China's mainline record over the past two decades is strong. Its last fatal jet crash, China Eastern 5735 on 21 March 2022, a Boeing 737-800 that dived from cruise and killed all 132 people on board, has no published cause. Before that, the last fatal airline crash in China was Henan Airlines 8387, an Embraer 190 that hit the ground short of the runway at Yichun on 24 August 2010; 44 of the 96 people on board died.

How to tell if you are on one

The ICAO type code is simply C919, and flight trackers and Chinese booking apps show it. From outside, it looks much like an A320, with a pointed nose and a four-panel cockpit windscreen, which is its most visible difference. If you are flying domestically in China on China Eastern, Air China or China Southern, there is a growing chance your flight uses one.