China's first home-grown passenger jet makes commercial debut

China Eastern Airlines launched the country's home-grown narrow-body C919 jet for passenger service on Sunday, with the plane's first commercial flight marking a milestone in China's effort to become more self-reliant in aviation.

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The C919 is the product of state-backed Commercial Aviation Corp of China (Comac) which began developing the jet 15 years ago to rival Airbus's A320neo and Boeing's 737 MAX single-aisle jet families.

President Xi Jinping has hailed the project as a triumph of Chinese innovation, while on Sunday state media trumpeted the plane as a symbol of industrial prowess and national pride.

"After generations of endeavour, we finally broke the West's aviation monopoly and rid ourselves of the humiliation of '800 million shirts for one Boeing", Beijing Daily wrote, referring to the early years of economic reform around 40 years ago when China manufactured mainly low-value goods.