China Eastern Airlines: What Passengers Really Say About the Shanghai Carrier

History and positioning

Being the airline that brought the C919 into commercial service on the Shanghai-Chengdu route in 2023 is not an isolated episode: it marks China's entry, alongside Boeing and Airbus, among the few countries in the world able to put their own airliner into regular flight on a commercial scale. Joining SkyTeam in 2011 gave Shanghai solid Western connectivity, setting China Eastern's international positioning apart from that of Air China, which is more tied to Star Alliance.

The fleet

The group fleet exceeds 700 aircraft counting the subsidiaries, with 777F, A350-900, 787-9 and A330 widebodies on long-haul, the narrowbody core of the A320 family and, growing, the fleet of COMAC C919s: very few other airlines in the world can say they have a jet built in their own country in service at this scale.

Routes and network

The dual hub of Shanghai, with Pudong more international and Hongqiao more domestic, feeds solid SkyTeam connectivity to Europe and North America, along with an extensive domestic network that converges on the city.

On board and service

The onboard product is full-service in all cabins, with lie-flat business class on the long-haul 787s and A350s and onboard Wi-Fi progressively extended to the newer aircraft.

What passengers say

Independent reviews describe solid cabin comfort on long-haul widebodies and a generally attentive crew, while the most frequent complaints concern communication about delays on domestic routes during the frequent summer bad-weather episodes around Shanghai, and customer service response times for refunds that are not always quick.

China Eastern is a good choice if you want an international itinerary with SkyTeam connectivity through Shanghai, perhaps with the curiosity of trying a domestic leg operated by the C919. It is not the best airline for anyone with a tight same-day connection in Shanghai between June and September, when summer thunderstorms cause frequent ground stops at both of the city's airports. The practical tip is exactly this: in that seasonal window, plan generous margins on any connection that goes through Pudong or Hongqiao.