(Yicai) April 29 -- Air China, the country's flagship carrier, said it has placed a new order for 100 C919 planes, the first large passenger jets developed independently by China, which will be delivered between this year and 2031.

Some of the new planes will be used to expand Air China's fleet while others will replace older aircraft, the Beijing-based carrier said late on April 26, citing a deal it inked with the C919 developer Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China on the same day.

Air China got a large discount from Comac, with the price lower than the around USD10.8 billion cited in the state-owned plane maker's latest catalog, it noted.

Air China's order is Comac's second of this size after China Eastern Airline placed one last September. The Shanghai-based firm took delivery of the very first C919 on Dec. 9, 2022 and its first commercial flight was in May last year.

China Eastern has received five C919 jets so far, all in commercial operation on domestic routes, with its related fleet likely to double by the end of the year. Air China and China Southern Airlines will get their first planes this year.

The C919, a narrow-body aircraft, was developed to rival the Boeing 737 and Airbus 320. It meets the International Civil Aviation Organization's requirements and has 158 to 168 seats, with a mileage of 4,075 kilometers to 5,555 km.

On April 25, Suparna Airlines, a smaller private airline owned by HNA Aviation Group, said it will get its first C919 jet in the fourth quarter of this year, adding that it will also replace its Boeing fleet with 30 C919 planes over the next three to four years.

Editors: Tang Shihua, Martin Kadiev