China Eastern Airlines (CEA) is the new operator of the A321neo, the largest variant of Airbus’ A320neo family.
Two jets powered by CFM Leap-1A engines flew from Hamburg, Germany, to China on October 29 and 31, marking the first deliveries of the type.
The Chinese carrier, one of the country’s largest carriers, has an order for 68 aircraft from Airbus.
The aircraft are configured with 198 seats, including 12 in business class and 186 in economy.
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The A321neos, registered B-32HX and B-32HY, join Airbus’ largest fleet of aircraft in China. China Eastern Airlines owns 450 jets from the European planemaker, 374 of which are from the A320 family, 56 from the A330 family and 20 from the A350 family.
Of the three major Chinese state-owned airlines, only CEA did not operate the A321neo, currently the world’s most popular commercial jet.
Air China has 30 of the aircraft and China Southern Airlines has another 64.
COMAC is preparing a rival for the A321neo
China Eastern is the launch customer for the C919, a jetliner similar to the A320neo that is manufactured in the country by COMAC. There are already eight of them in service out of an order for 105 planes.
The Chinese manufacturer is also planning a larger-capacity C919, called the “Stretched Variant” and expected to carry around 210 passengers.
The version was announced a year ago, but since then COMAC has not given any further details about the status of the project.
