China Eastern Airlines receives its seventh C919 jetliner from its manufacturer Commercial Aircraft Corp of China (COMAC) on July 29 in Shanghai. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

China Eastern Airlines received its seventh C919 jetliner from its manufacturer Commercial Aircraft Corp of China (COMAC) on July 29 in Shanghai, further expanding its fleet as the first global customer of C919 aircraft, according to the Shanghai-based carrier.

Being the largest customer of China's first self-developed narrow-body jet C919, China Eastern purchased the first batch of five C919 jets in 2021, and signed a deal with COMAC to buy 100 more C919 aircraft on September 28, 2023.

China Eastern Airlines receives its seventh C919 jetliner from its manufacturer Commercial Aircraft Corp of China (COMAC) on July 29 in Shanghai. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

Prior to Monday's delivery, China Eastern has launched four C919 regular commercial routes between Shanghai Hongqiao International Airport to Chinese destinations of Beijing, Chengdu in Sichuan province, Xi'an of Shaanxi province, and Guangzhou of Guangdong province, said the Shanghai-based carrier. After putting more C919s into operation, China Eastern is expected to let the domestically built aircraft play a greater role, according to the airliner.

The C919 fleet has conducted 3,031 commercial flights, safely carrying nearly 405,000 passenger trips as of Sunday, and the average load factor of the C919 flights stays around 90 percent in the summer season.