(Adds background and context about the C919)
BEIJING, April 30 (Reuters) - China Southern Airlines
will receive its first C919 jet in August as part of a 100-plane order, a senior executive said on Tuesday, as commercial operations of the domestically designed plane ramps up in the country.
Han Wensheng made the remarks at an earnings event livestreamed on a Shanghai Stock Exchange platform.
The Guangzhou-based airline said on Monday it would buy 100 of the C919s made by Chinese state-owned planemaker COMAC at a catalogue price of $99 million each, and the jets would be delivered between 2024 and 2031.
The China Southern order came after the country's flagship carrier, Air China ordered 100 of the extended range version of the C919 planes last week.
The orders mean that all three of China's state-owned airlines are set to fly C919 fleets, expanding commercial operations of the plane amid ambitions by Beijing to take market share from industry leaders Airbus and Boeing .
China has said it wants to secure broader international recognition for the C919 this year, including pursuing European Union Aviation Safety Agency certification. The jet has so far gained more than 1,000 orders, but mostly from Chinese airlines and aircraft lessors.
Shanghai-headquartered China Eastern Airlines was the first user of the C919 and flew the jet on its first commercial flight in May 2023.
China Eastern now operates a fleet of five C919 on three domestic routes, including Shanghai to Beijing and Shanghai to Chengdu. The plane has yet to fly any international routes.
In January, government media reported that COMAC planned to invest tens of billions yuan over the next 3-5 years to expand production capacity for its C919 airliner.
(Reporting by Beijing newsroom; Editing by Kirsten Donovan and Bernadette Baum)
((qiaoyi.li@thomsonreuters.com;))
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