China's first indigenous regional jetliner, the ARJ21-700 has started its demonstration flights in north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. The first flight carried more than 60 passengers, taking off from Hohhot and landing in Ulanhot City. This marks the ARJ21's first operation in the region. Christy Skull has more.

This is China's first jetliner designed for flying in the central and western regions. It has now been proven that the aircraft is not only suitable for take-offs and landings at plateau airports, but can also operate at ultra-low temperatures. The four-hour uneventful flight received a thumbs-ups from passengers.

"The jetliner is fine, quite comfortable, with a good and clean environment." 

"It felt good, even better than the Boeing I took when I came here. The temperature was just fine." 

Besides the comfortable flight experience, the passengers also said they were proud to be on a Chinese-made jetliner. With 78 to 90 seats, the ARJ21-700 has a flying range of over 2,200 to 3,700 kilometers.

In late 2015, the aircraft was delivered to its first customer, Chengdu Airlines, and conducted its first commercial flight in 2016. Now it has netted 453 orders from 21 customers at home and abroad.

So far, four aircrafts have been delivered, and they have been operating on several routes.

Chengdu and Shanghai Chengdu and Nantong Chengdu and Changsha Chengdu and Hefei Chengdu and Jinan. But with success comes competition. It was recently reported that another new regional jetliner, the E175, produced by Brazilian Airlines, carried out a demonstration flight at the same airport in Hohhot. Though it has yet to operate on domestic routes, the attempt to compete for China's regional airliner market is clear.

ZHANG FANG, CAPTAIN ARJ21 DEMONSTRATION FLIGHT "We aim to compete with international aviation products. We want to show the safety and comfort of our domestic airliners with actual passenger flights."

The regional demo flights will last until the end of this month.