China’s home-built C919 passenger jet took off this morning for its third test flight, according to data from plane-tracking website Flightradar24.
The flight comes 36 days after its previous test. On Friday, the plane took off at 7:37 a.m. (2337 GMT) from Shanghai’s Pudong Airport and is expected to arrive at 8:56 a.m., according to Flightradar24.
The plane’s manufacturer, Commercial Aircraft Corp of China Ltd (COMAC), was not immediately available to comment.
The C919, which will compete with Boeing Co’s 737 and the Airbus SE A320, is a symbol of China’s effort to become a key player in the global civil aerospace market and President Xi Jinping’s push to upgrade the country’s manufacturing capabilities.
COMAC Vice President Shi Jianzhong previously said the time between the C919’s future test flights would be much shorter than the nearly five-month gap between the C919’s first and second flights.
However plans for the third test flight were delayed due to bad weather, a COMAC official said last month.
