(Yicai) June 14 -- China Eastern Airlines has started a new route from Shanghai to Guangzhou, marking the fourth route using C919s, the nation's first large homegrown passenger jet.

The world’s first user of C919 planes opened the landmark route from Shanghai Hongqiao International Airport to Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport today, planning to make one round trip per day, Chinanews.Com reported. The Shanghai-based airline has six bought C919 planes, using them for three other routes between Shanghai, Beijing, Chengdu, and Xi'an.

Developed by the Commercial Aircraft Corp. of China, the C919 is a narrow-body airliner that can carry almost 200 passengers. China Eastern completed the aircraft's maiden commercial flight in May, last year.

The airline has 36 flights between Shanghai and Guangzhou per day, going as frequently as every 30 minutes during peak hours, carrying over 150,000 passengers on average per month.

China Eastern has flown 2,360 trips using the homegrown aircraft as of yesterday, resulting in more than 6,560 flight hours and over 300,000 served passengers, according to the latest data.

Editor: Emmi Laine