BEIJING: China's state-owned Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China has completed the first crewed flight of its CE-25A electric aircraft, a 10-ton-class design intended for short intercity routes, the company said.
The aircraft carried two pilots and a flight test engineer during the flight in Shandong Province. All systems operated normally and performance indicators met expectations, according to the company.
The milestone advances development of an aircraft designed to carry up to 19 passengers using an electric propulsion system. The CE-25A previously completed its first autonomous unmanned flight in early February and has since undergone 19 autonomous flight tests, the state-run Xinhua News Agency reported.
The aircraft is jointly developed by COMAC, the China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology and Shanghai Jiao Tong University. It is now moving toward the regulatory certification process. China's Civil Aviation Administration has accepted its application for type certification, though that does not mean the aircraft has received approval to enter commercial service.
The CE-25A has a maximum takeoff weight of approximately 22,046 pounds (10,000 kilograms) and is designed to carry 19 passengers. Its reported cruising speed is 186 mph (300 kph), with a cruising altitude of about 7,874 feet (2,400 meters).
The aircraft has a stated range of around 249 miles (400 kilometers), placing it in the category of short-distance regional transportation rather than conventional long-haul commercial aviation, Chinese media reported.
Its configuration is intended to support intercity connections, potentially serving routes where smaller passenger aircraft can provide an alternative to longer ground journeys. However, COMAC has not disclosed details about the aircraft's battery capacity, electric motor configuration, charging requirements or energy consumption.
The first crewed flight follows an earlier development milestone on Feb. 2, when the CE-25A completed its first intelligent unmanned flight. The latest flight introduced a human crew to assess the aircraft's performance under crewed operating conditions.
