China Eastern Airlines has announced the purchase of 100 Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China (COMAC) C919 aircraft in a deal which is expected to be worth around $9.9 billion.
In a statement released on September 26, 20233, China Eastern confirmed that the airline has been given a “substantial discount” for the jets.
On May 28, 2023, the first commercial service ever of a COMAC C919 airliner was operated by China Eastern.
The carrier received its second C919 in July 2023 as part of a previous order for five of the aircraft, with 15 options still on the table.
According to senior figures at COMAC the order book for the C919 aircraft has already surpassed 1,000 planes.
Under the agreement for more aircraft, COMAC will deliver five C919 aircraft in 2024 and then 10 a year from 2025 to 2027, increasing to 15 in the following three years and 20 in 2031, China Eastern said.
According to China Eastern the order will be paid for with its own funds, bank loans and proceeds from bond issues and other financing.
Air China, China Eastern Airlines, and China Southern Airlines, which make up China’s ‘Big Three’ airlines, are the only three carriers with C919s assigned to them, according to ch-aviation.com data.