Overview
- COMAC flew the CE-25A with two pilots and a flight‑test engineer on board during a November 14, 2026 test that spent 16 minutes and 38 seconds airborne and covered about 60.4 km.
- The piloted flight follows 19 prior autonomous validation sorties that began with an unmanned intelligent flight on February 2, 2026, moving the program from remote testing to crewed evaluation.
- The CE-25A is a roughly 10‑tonne, 19‑seat demonstrator with distributed electric ducted‑fan propulsion and reported cruise performance of about 300 km/h and a stated range near 400 km.
- China’s aviation regulator has accepted COMAC’s type‑certificate application, which starts a formal CCAR‑25 review but does not permit commercial passenger service or imply a granted certificate.
- COMAC’s partners include battery maker CATL and Shanghai Jiao Tong University, and key unresolved issues for certification are battery chemistry, energy capacity, thermal safety, charging operations and further flight testing.