During the 14th Five-Year Plan (2021-25), China Eastern Airlines Co., Ltd. (CEA) has been a key player in China's civil aviation industry. The domestically produced large jetliner, the C919, has entered large-scale operations after its commercial maiden flight. CEA has led in resuming international routes, becoming the domestic airline with the most international destinations and the highest international freight turnover. Daily passenger traffic has reached over 500,000, setting a new record. Significant innovative achievements have been made in its digital transformation and "AI+" initiatives, marking new strides towards high-quality development.
Resume international routes, enhance core competitiveness
Throughout this period, CEA has supported China's high-level opening-up and adapted to industry challenges. It has continuously optimized its route network and prioritized resuming and launching new international routes. In 2025, CEA launched 23 new international routes, reviving the total number to 107 percent of the 2019 level, surpassing the industry average by 23.5 percent.
Since 2024, CEA has increased the frequency of international flights to key markets such as Europe, Australia, Japan, South Korea, and Southeast Asia, effectively filling gaps in direct flights from major domestic cities to the Middle East, North Africa, and Central Asia. On December 4, 2025, CEA launched the Shanghai Pudong – Auckland – Buenos Aires route. It is the first southbound passage connecting China and Latin America via New Zealand, which marks CEA’s all-around route coverage across all continents.
CEA has focused on developing core flight hubs such as the Shanghai Pudong International Airport, significantly enhancing its transfer capabilities. CEA has allocated 70 percent of its wide-body aircraft capacity and 90 percent of its all-cargo aircraft capacity to Shanghai, making the city a major transfer corridor between Japan, South Korea and Europe, Asia, and between Europe and Australia, Southeast Asia. This strategy has attracted more international passengers to transfer in Shanghai. In 2024, CEA handled 8.358 million international transfer passengers at Shanghai Pudong International Airport, a year-on-year increase of 190.5 percent and 80.9 percent of the airport's total transfer passengers, helping Shanghai become the largest aviation hub on the Chinese mainland.
As of the end of September 2025, CEA's international and regional route network has expanded to 244 routes, covering 38 countries and 89 overseas destinations worldwide. This includes 128 "Silk Road" routes connecting 45 destinations in 25 countries along the "Belt and Road". Currently, CEA is the Chinese airline with the largest number of international destinations.
While focusing on international expansion, CEA has optimized its domestic route network layout. Centering on the four major economic growth poles of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region, the Yangtze River Delta, the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, and the Chengdu-Chongqing region, CEA further densifies its major route network and broadens the domestic air corridors. It has established branch offices and bases in key regions such as Xiamen City in Fujian Province, Chongqing Municipality, Northeast China’s Heilongjiang, Jilin and Liaoning provinces, and Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. CEA also established a Hainan branch and increased the frequency of routes from Sanya and Haikou to Southeast Asia to support the construction of the Hainan Free Trade Port and regional opening-up.
Large-scale operation for domestic civil aircraft
It was during the 14th Five-Year Plan that the C919 took its maiden flight, turning the Chinese people's dream of a large aircraft into reality. On December 9, 2022, CEA received the world's first domestically produced large jetliner, the C919. On May 28, 2023, CEA completed the world's first commercial passenger flight of this aircraft model, marking the official takeoff of the commercial operation of domestically produced large aircraft in China's civil aviation industry.
CEA has established a special safety operation team for the C919. Currently, it has over 160 pilots and nearly 730 cabin crew members for the C919. CEA also trained more than 500 maintenance personnel and over 50 dispatchers for domestic civil aircraft. The CEA C919 Flight Department has been awarded the honorary title of "Model of Central Enterprises."
Over the past two years, CEA's C919 fleet has successfully advanced from trial operation to large-scale operation. The C919 fleet has 13 aircraft, equivalent to the size of a small airline, with orders for another 105 aircraft. By the end of 2025, CEA's C919 fleet has operated 15 routes, connected 13 cities including Shanghai, Beijing, Hong Kong, Chengdu, and Xi'an, and transported over 2 million passengers.
Integrated development to boost new consumption
A specially painted aircraft at an airport [Photo/sasac.gov.cn]
In recent years, CEA has collaborated with the Shanghai Museum and the National Museum of China to launch the Museum Premium products, with cumulative sales exceeding 100,000 units. CEA has introduced themed painted aircraft, such as the "Shanghai Museum" and "National Museum of China" planes, allowing passengers to experience the charm of cultural relics and museums during flights. CEA is also actively advancing cooperation with institutions like the Anhui Museum to develop special products such as combined flight and museum tickets, achieving the two-way conversion of "passengers" and "tourists".
CEA has also created a diverse range of cultural and tourism products on projects such as the 9th China-South Asia Expo, the International Horticultural Exhibition 2024, and Follow Wukong to Tour Shanxi. In partnership with Shanghai Disneyland, CEA launched themed activities that attracted 48,000 international transfer passengers. Collaborating with Pop Mart, it introduced a painted aircraft to celebrate the 50th anniversary of China-Thailand diplomatic relations, further enhancing passenger experience through a younger and more international service model.
CEA has also actively collaborated with sports events, continuously expanding the boundaries of cooperation. It has explored diverse cooperation modes of "Aviation + Sports" by providing customized aviation services, creating event-themed scenarios, and conducting joint brand promotions with many sports events, including the 23rd Tour of Qinghai Lake, the World Snooker Shanghai Masters, Wuhan Open Tennis, and the Water Sports Season in Taihe County, Jiangxi Province. CEA also supported the 9th Asian Winter Games Harbin 2025 as an official partner.
The company’s entire fleet consists of nearly 840 aircraft, including 39 domestically produced civil aircraft (11 C919 aircraft and 28 C909 aircraft) and 18 B777 all-cargo aircraft. Its annual passenger traffic volume is expected to exceed 140 million. CEA's assets, fleet size, and transportation scale have all entered the world's top ten.
Standing at the new historical starting point of the 15th Five-Year Plan (2026-30), CEA is pursuing bigger visions to write a brilliant chapter of Chinese-style modernization.
(Executive editor: Yuan Ting)
