China is one of the world’s top three air travel markets, with North America and Europe. Since a series of fatal crashes in the 1990s and 2000s, it has substantially improved safety.
Since 2010, China has not reported a commercial jet crash with more than five deaths. The People’s Liberation Army, the military component of the ruling Communist Party, has also been involved in tragic collisions, but few data are available.
China Eastern is one of four major state-owned carriers in China, along with Air China, China Southern Airlines, and HNA Group. The airline’s headquarters are at Shanghai’s Pudong International Airport, where it was founded in 1995. According to its mid-2021 interim report, it has a fleet of 749 aircraft, 291 of which are Boeing 737s.
Carriers have incurred significant financial losses as a result of the government’s anti-coronavirus “zero tolerance” policy, which has barred most foreign travelers from entering China and delayed travel by briefly banning access to major cities. According to Boeing Co., China’s passenger numbers will surpass those of the United States for the first time in 2020. This was largely due to the fact that once coronavirus infections were initially confirmed in late 2019, China’s populous country immediately reopened its borders to domestic travel. Boeing predicts a yearly traffic increase of 5.4 percent, with China accounting for one-sixth of potential added aircraft capacity.
For Boeing and its European rival Airbus Industries, China is one of the most significant markets. They want Chinese carriers to push sales while demand in the United States and Europe flattens.
The ruling Communist Party aims to compete with them by developing and eventually exporting its own jetliners.
COMAC, or the Commercial Aircraft Corp. of China, has unveiled the ARJ21, a short-range airliner with seating for up to 105 people, and the C919, a larger but still short-range jetliner with seating for up to 190 passengers. The C929 is a long-range twin-aisle airliner that can carry up to 290 passengers, according to the company.
