COMAC C919 completes first international flight, landing in Mongolia

An Air China-operated COMAC C919 completed its first international flight on August 12, 2026, departing Beijing Capital International Airport and landing at Ulaanbaatar New International Airport in Mongolia. The aircraft, a C919-100(ER) registered B-919Y, departed shortly before 15:20 local time and arrived around 17:00 local time, according to the report. The route had previously been served by Air China using a Boeing 737 MAX 8.

The flight represents a milestone for COMAC, the Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China, as the C919 had until now operated only domestic routes since its first delivery to China Eastern Airlines in 2022. The aircraft has been positioned as a domestic rival to the Boeing 737 MAX and Airbus A320neo families, though delivery numbers have remained limited, with fewer than 40 C919s delivered so far according to data cited from ch-aviation. Current operators of the type include Air China, China Eastern Airlines and China Southern Airlines.

Separately, COMAC has been developing a smaller variant of the aircraft, the C919-600, in cooperation with Tibet Airlines, intended to carry between 140 and 160 passengers. The manufacturer said a high-altitude prototype of this variant, registered B-002U, completed a test flight of just under two hours from Shanghai Pudong International Airport on July 29, 2026, describing the flight as having completed all scheduled maneuvers and calling it a significant step in the aircraft's development.