Flight Friday: After Vietjet’s Brief Trial, Who Are The Top C909 Operators?

Back in April, Vietjet leased a pair of ARJ21/C909s from Chengdu Airlines to try out the Comac-built regional jet after a state visit to Vietnam by China’s President Xi Jinping.

However, after trying out the regional jet, Vietjet recently returned the pair after opting not to extend the lease. This week’s Flight Friday looks at the top five ARJ21/C909 operators, with Vietjet added.

The first ARJ21, as it was then known, was delivered almost a decade ago to Chengdu Airlines. The aircraft, registration B-3321, was retired in October 2022, having been in service for seven years. To date, over 170 ARJ21/C909s have been delivered (Comac rebranded the ARJ21 as the C909 in November 2024).

China Southern Airlines and Air China have the largest fleets, with 35 aircraft each (including aircraft in storage). However, China Southern is only third when it comes to monthly aggregated flights, and Air China is second.

The highest number of monthly flights is achieved by the fleet of 30 aircraft operated by Chengdu Airlines. Chengdu tends to use the aircraft on a slightly shorter flight segment of around 90 min. but operates more flights during a day.

China Eastern Airlines has a fleet of 28 and operate them in a similar manner to China Southern and Air China on slightly longer sectors with a 100-110-min. average stage length.

China Express Airlines has a shorter sector length of 90 min., but it also has the smallest fleet of the top five. With just 13 aircraft, it’s less than half the fleet of the other operators.

Vietjet, in comparison, was operating around 200 flights per month with the 90-min. sector length. A Reuters report cited sources blaming high operational costs linked to foreign crew and maintenance services as one of the reasons the airline ceased flying the C909s.