By Euronews
Published on
A Chinese electric airliner made its first crewed flight on Saturday, marking a historic first for China’s aviation industry and the state-backed Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China (COMAC), state media reported.
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The plane was reportedly flown by two pilots and an engineer and traveled approximately 60 kilometers, remaining in the air for 16 minutes and 38 seconds.
It took off and landed in Binzhou, eastern China’s Shandong province. Chinese state broadcaster CCTV News and the Xinhua news agency were the first to report the theft.
The plane, a CE-25A designed for short-haul commercial flights between cities, used an electric propulsion system. It can carry 19 passengers and has a maximum takeoff weight of 10 tonnes. It has a cruising speed of up to 300 km/h and can fly at an altitude of 2,400 meters.
COMAC said the flight “proceeded normally.” The aircraft was built in China as part of a collaborative effort between COMAC and battery maker Contemporary Amperex Technology Co. Limited (CATL), Shanghai Jiao Tong University and others.
Manned flight constitutes the final stage in the development of the aircraft. It had already flown autonomously in February this year and has since carried out 19 unmanned test flights.
The manufacturer has applied for type certification from the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC), but has not yet received approval to enter commercial service.
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