China's COMAC C919 Jet Makes First International Flight, Landing In Mongolia

BEIJING —

A Chinese-built passenger jet flew outside the country's borders for the first time on Wednesday, as Air China launched a new route between Beijing and Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, using the COMAC C919, according to CNBC and Nikkei Asia. The narrow-body aircraft left Beijing Capital International Airport just after 3 p.m. local time and landed in the Mongolian capital about two hours later, CNBC reported, citing flight-tracking service FlightRadar24. Air China said the route will operate daily going forward.

The C919 is built by the state-owned Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China, or COMAC, and can carry up to 174 passengers, putting it in the same class as Boeing's 737 MAX and Airbus's A320neo, CNBC reported. The plane has flown domestic Chinese routes since 2023, but Wednesday's flight marked its debut on an international one, according to The Guardian.

A Long Way From Boeing And Airbus

Despite the milestone, the C919 still depends heavily on foreign suppliers. Its engines are made by CFM International, a joint venture between GE Aerospace of the United States and France's Safran Aircraft Engines, according to Andreas Mischer, an analyst at the Mercator Institute for China Studies, who spoke to CNBC. A 2020 analysis by the Center for Strategic and International Studies found that more than half of the C919's suppliers were based in the United States, The Guardian reported.

The jet has not been certified by American or European aviation regulators, which limits its ability to fly most international routes, CNBC reported. COMAC delivered a cumulative 32 C919s by the end of 2025 and eight more in the first half of 2026, Mischer told CNBC, far behind the roughly 100 narrow-body jets Airbus delivered to China in 2025 alone. COMAC has said it wants to build 200 aircraft a year by 2029.

Scott Kennedy, a senior adviser at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, told The Guardian the Mongolia flight was largely symbolic. "This is essentially a public relations move," Kennedy said, adding that Ulaanbaatar's proximity to Beijing likely factored into the choice. He said it remains "very unlikely" that COMAC becomes a serious challenger to Boeing and Airbus "even a generation from now."

China Still Buys American Planes

Even as Beijing promotes COMAC, its airlines continue to rely on Western jets. China confirmed an order for 200 Boeing aircraft, along with engines and spare parts, in May, CNBC reported. The Guardian reported that the deal came during President Donald Trump's state visit to Beijing, with the United States in turn offering supply guarantees for aircraft engine parts.

The United States suspended exports of some components used in the C919 last year amid trade tensions with China, according to The Guardian, though the two countries later agreed to a truce set to expire in November.

Kyle Chan, a fellow at the Brookings Institution who studies China's industrial policy, told The Guardian that building large passenger jets is "an order of magnitude more difficult" than manufacturing electric vehicles, one reason so few companies make them. Rob Morris, a retired aviation analyst, told CNBC that COMAC's slow production pace, not just technical hurdles, is what stands between the C919 and genuine competition with Boeing and Airbus.