The European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) has completed a week of validation sorties aboard China’s COMAC C919 in Shanghai, marking a major milestone toward certifying the narrow-body jet for European airline use (visahq.com). International acceptance is crucial for COMAC’s export ambitions: although the aircraft entered domestic service in 2025 with China Eastern Airlines, most global regulators look to EASA and the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration before issuing their own type certificates.
EASA engineers examined handling qualities, flight-control logic and documentation, with at least six months of data analysis still ahead. Certification would break the Airbus-Boeing duopoly on short-haul fleets and pave the way for Chinese carriers to deploy C919s on Sino-European trunk routes, potentially lowering fares and increasing capacity for corporate travellers (visahq.com).
The test campaign is creating a steady flow of engineers, pilots and auditors shuttling between Europe and Shanghai. Mobility managers must juggle tight project timelines with ongoing Chinese visa requirements; facilitators report a jump in short-term (M) visa requests pegged to the programme.
![EASA test-flies COMAC C919, edging Chinese jet closer to European certification]()
Companies scrambling to source those visas quickly can turn to VisaHQ’s streamlined service: its China portal (https://www.visahq.com/china/) allows coordinators to complete applications online, schedule consulate appointments, and track processing in real time—reducing administrative friction so C919 teams spend more time in the cockpit and less in paperwork queues.
Leasing companies headquartered in Ireland and Singapore are already modelling residual-value scenarios for early export frames, while Chinese supply-chain firms anticipate increased demand for domestically produced components if the jet secures European orders.
Corporate travel policies should flag that further demonstration flights could be scheduled at short notice in Toulouse or Cologne, requiring rapid visa issuance for Chinese technical staff and reciprocal Schengen trips for EASA inspectors to Xi’an and Chengdu.
EASA engineers examined handling qualities, flight-control logic and documentation, with at least six months of data analysis still ahead. Certification would break the Airbus-Boeing duopoly on short-haul fleets and pave the way for Chinese carriers to deploy C919s on Sino-European trunk routes, potentially lowering fares and increasing capacity for corporate travellers (visahq.com).
The test campaign is creating a steady flow of engineers, pilots and auditors shuttling between Europe and Shanghai. Mobility managers must juggle tight project timelines with ongoing Chinese visa requirements; facilitators report a jump in short-term (M) visa requests pegged to the programme.
Companies scrambling to source those visas quickly can turn to VisaHQ’s streamlined service: its China portal (https://www.visahq.com/china/) allows coordinators to complete applications online, schedule consulate appointments, and track processing in real time—reducing administrative friction so C919 teams spend more time in the cockpit and less in paperwork queues.
Leasing companies headquartered in Ireland and Singapore are already modelling residual-value scenarios for early export frames, while Chinese supply-chain firms anticipate increased demand for domestically produced components if the jet secures European orders.
Corporate travel policies should flag that further demonstration flights could be scheduled at short notice in Toulouse or Cologne, requiring rapid visa issuance for Chinese technical staff and reciprocal Schengen trips for EASA inspectors to Xi’an and Chengdu.
