China's homegrown jetliner C919 arrives in S China's Sanya for first time during long-distance test flight

China's first homegrown large jetliner C919 makes a smooth landing at Sanya Phoenix International Airport in Sanya city, south China's Hainan Province, as part of its long-distance test flight. (Photo/Chen Zhenhuang)

China's C919 large passenger jet has arrived in Sanya city, south China's Hainan Province, for the first time, as part of its long-distance test flight on an air route from east China's Shanghai to Sanya and then Harbin, capital of northeast China's Heilongjiang Province.

The aircraft, which is China's first homegrown large jetliner, landed safely at the Sanya Phoenix International Airport in Sanya at 11:43 a.m. on Feb. 8, where it was welcomed with a water cannon salute.

Sanya Phoenix International Airport is one of the airports designated to hold the jetliner's validation flight tests on typical and long-distance routes. The recent test flight included a run-through of the entire flight operation process, from obtaining flight approval to passenger boarding and pilot operation, in order to verify the reliability of the C919 during commercial operations.

In a bid to ensure that the test flight went smoothly, Sanya Phoenix International Airport held special meetings beforehand to coordinate relevant tasks and make specific arrangements for details of the links involved, such as ground services, guidance for the aircraft, parking stand allocation, and services provided by special-purpose vehicles.