China Southern Airlines on Wednesday operated its first commercial flight using the domestically-made C919 aircraft on the route from Guangzhou in South China's Guangdong Province to Nanyang in Central China's Henan Province. This marks the jet's commercial debut at a Chinese regional airport, the Global Times learned from the air carrier on Thursday.

Flight CZ3383, carrying 139 passengers, landed at Nanyang's Jiangying Airport at 11:57 pm on Wednesday. It was the airline's first time deploying C919 on the Guangzhou-Nanyang route, expanding the jet's commercial operations, according to a statement provided to the Global Times.

The home-grown C919 plane has made a key advancement in accelerating the development of China's modern aviation system, enhancing connectivity between major and regional routes for a fully integrated network, a China Media Group report said on Thursday.

The C919 aircraft used for this latest flight was a standard-range model, configured in a three-class layout with 164 seats, per the statement. Following its debut, Nanyang Jiangying Airport will regularly support China Southern's C919 operations, including flight training, technical validations, and occasional commercial flights.

According to the schedule, the C919 plane will undergo intensive local flight training at Nanyang Jiangying Airport on June 5 and 6. China Southern Airlines will deploy a team of highly qualified and experienced captain instructors to lead pilots in completing rigorous training exercises, including takeoffs, landings, and go-arounds.

By collecting operational big data, the airline aims to thoroughly evaluate the aircraft's performance and the airport's ground support coordination while advancing the development of the flight crew for the C919.

Moving forward, China Southern Airlines will expand its route network as more C919 planes are delivered, supporting the continued growth of the aviation and tourism sectors in Central China, the carrier said.

By the end of May, the C919 marked its second anniversary of commercial operations. To date, 18 C919 aircraft have been delivered to China Eastern Airlines, Air China, and China Southern Airlines, operating on 24 routes across 16 cities and carrying over 2 million passengers, Xinhua News Agency reported earlier.

As of May 27, China Eastern Airlines' C919 fleet had logged over 28,000 safe flight hours, completed more than 11,400 commercial flights, and transported over 1.57 million passengers, according to another statement from the carrier to the Global Times earlier.

The C919 is a narrow-body passenger aircraft with a maximum capacity of 192 seats. It is China's first self-developed trunk jetliner, built in accordance with international airworthiness standards and featuring independently registered intellectual property rights.