Chinese jet takes off on OTT maiden flight

Ti Gong

The maiden commercial flight of OTT Airlines, a new Shanghai-based carrier operating China's domestically developed passenger jets, took off from Hongqiao International Airport on Monday.

Flight MU5159, operated by an ARJ21 regional jet, took off at 2:33pm and landed at the Capital International Airport in Beijing around 4:30pm.

The fleet of the China Eastern Airlines subsidiary will be mainly composed of ARJ21 regional jets and C919 single-aisle aircraft, along with other Chinese-developed passenger aircraft.

OTT plans to receive three ARJ21s this year, another six in 2021 and eight in 2022. It will operate 35 ARJ21s by 2025.

“I’m proud and feel honored to participate in the maiden flight of the ARJ21, which is like my own child,” said Zhai Zhigang, OTT’s general manager.

Zhai, a pilot for 37 years, has flown over a dozen types of aircraft. He took part in preparing the ARJ21 for OTT and served as an inspector for the first flight.

Ti Gong

In his onboard announcement, Zhang Daqi, captain of the flight, said: "It is my honor to witness the maiden flight of OTT's first ARJ21 with you.”

Zhang was the captain of a business jet accompanying China's first domestically development narrow-body jetliner, the C919, on its maiden flight in 2017.

"I believe OTT will help the China-made aircraft to fly across the world and toward the future," Zhang said. He said the performance of the ARJ21 is "far beyond expectation."

After receiving the first ARJ21 on June 28, OTT has carried out flight training and certification. It acquired the certificates from the Civil Aviation Administration of China on December 25.

A crew of 15 pilots, 28 flight attendants and other support staff, will operate the ARJ21s.

The carrier was established in February. OTT stands for One Two Three, a name inspired by the "Tao Te Ching," a classic text from ancient philosopher Lao Tzu. The name could also represent "On-time Travel" and "Over-the-top Travel" to showcase its ambitions, according to China Eastern.

The ARJ21 is China's first turbo-fan regional passenger jetliner which has a range of 3,700 kilometers. It can fly in alpine and plateau regions, and adapt to various airport conditions.

Ti Gong

The Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China (COMAC), developer of the ARJ21, has so far delivered over 40 ARJ21s to Air China, China Eastern, China Southern, Chengdu Airlines, Jiangxi Air, Urumqi Air and Genghis Khan Airlines. Orders for the ARJ21 total around 670 units from more than 20 domestic and international customers, according to COMAC. The ARJ21s with China's three large carriers — Air China, China Southern and China Eastern — are all in operation.

More than 1.31 million passengers have now traveled on an ARJ21 via multiple Chinese carriers. Since the jet started commercial operation with Chengdu Airlines in June 2016, it has connected 64 domestic and international cities. 

Also planned are additional short and medium-haul routes to eastern Russia, Japan, South Korea, Southeast Asia and South Asia.

Ti Gong

OTT's ARJ21s have a 90-seat all-economy configuration. The seats on the maiden flight were nearly full, according to the carrier. 

The seats of ARJ21 are wider and have larger spaces between each other, according to COMAC.

China Eastern signed a contract with COMAC in August 2019 to purchase 35 ARJ21-700 regional jets. It also signed a purchase intention with COMAC for 20 C919s in 2010.

In another agreement with COMAC in 2016, China Eastern was named as the world's first operator of the C919.

Ti Gong

COMAC plans to deliver 100 ARJ21s by the end of 2021 when the first C919 will also be delivered to China Eastern, said Yang Yang, deputy director with COMAC’s marketing and sales department.

The regional jet with OTT will conduct flights between Pudong and Beijing’s Daxing airport, Nanchang in east China’s Jiangxi Province, Hefei in neighboring Anhui as well as Wenzhou in neighboring Zhejiang by the end of March. Tickets are available on China Eastern’s website and app.

Ti Gong