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Frank Chen

China has appointed its first female pilot to exclusively captain flights on its home-grown C919 jet, with more aspiring women waiting in the wings as the nation expands its talent pool and systemically transitions elite pilots who used to fly Boeing and Airbus jets to operate the narrowbody airliner.
Yu Yue, who made a high-stakes switch from her decade-long career flying the US-made Boeing 737 to be a C919 captain this year, has become a source of inspiration for many in the country.
According to state media reports, Yu – who flies with Guangzhou-based China Southern Airlines – has maintained a “zero-error” record since joining the carrier in 2015.
Trained at the Civil Aviation Flight University of China, she was enlisted as one of a cohort of top-flight pilots earlier this year to undergo intensive training to operate the C919, China’s answer to the 737 and Airbus A320 narrowbody jets.
The C919, manufactured by the Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China (Comac), began domestic service in May 2023, with the three largest carriers – the state-owned China Southern, Air China and China Eastern – all moving to further ratchet up flight frequencies following more than two years of smooth operations. China Southern is also expanding a pilot retraining plan as it takes delivery of more C919 units.
Across the nation, skilled pilots are undergoing C919 transition training with coordination from Comac and regulators, China Civil Aviation News reported in October, as the “big three” airlines have each committed to buy at least 100 units of the jet, taking deliveries into the 2030s.
“When I was approached to gauge my willingness to transition [to fly the C919], I did not hesitate for even a second,” Yu said in an interview with a Comac publication this month.
She spent months in an intensive training programme at a Comac facility in Shanghai to earn her licence to fly the C919, with classroom discussions and sessions inside full-flight simulators to tackle potential emergencies like engine failures and inclement weather.


As a child, Yu lived close to Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport, one of China’s busiest aviation hubs, she said in the interview. The experience ignited her ambition to be a pilot, she added, despite the fact that female cadets had to conquer more hurdles than their male peers.
But Yu said she was impressed by the rising number of female pilots, engineers and instructors in China’s civil aviation sector.
“When I was admitted into the flight college in 2011, there were very few female cadets. But more young women have since joined this male-dominated sector, with some already becoming captains. For instance, my instructors at Comac were all female professionals too,” she said.
“Female pilots usually have to juggle pursuing a professional career and family commitments like marriage and raising children … If some women can still excel against these challenges, they are probably the toughest women.”
China trained its first batch of female pilots, 14 in all, in 1951 to fly for the People’s Liberation Army. In 2024, the country had 941 female pilots flying commercial or private flights, with a majority of them born after 1985, significantly younger than the average age of their male colleagues.
The oldest female civil aviation pilot still holding a valid licence was born in 1953, while the youngest were born in 2005. Still, the overall proportion of female pilots in China’s civil aviation sector remains low, with a share of less than 2 per cent according to statistics from the Civil Aviation Administration of China.
By comparison, figures from the US Federal Aviation Administration show the percentage of female pilots among all certified civil aviation pilots in the United States was around 9 per cent in 2023.
But more women are leading the charge as China’s sector matures. The C929, Comac’s in-development widebody jet being positioned to rival Boeing’s 787 Dreamliner on most parameters, has a female lead designer, Zhao Chunling, who also contributed to the design and development of the C919.


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Yu Yue has been appointed as the first female captain pilot of the C919. Photo: China Southern Airlines

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Comac’s C909 passenger aircraft and C919 passenger aircraft in Zhuhai, Guangdong province. Photo: VCG via Getty Images

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A model of GE Aerospace’s Leap-1C engine, which is used exclusively to power China’s home-grown Comac C919 aircraft, is displayed at last week’s China International Import Expo in Shanghai. Photo: Frank Chen

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The logo of Airbus is pictured outside the Airbus facility in Saint-Nazaire, France, November 7, 2023. Photo: Reuters / Stephane Mahe / File Photo

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Promotion of former Boeing 737 pilot Yu Yue, who holds a ‘zero error’ record, called an inspiration to women across the nation


Promotion of former Boeing 737 pilot Yu Yue, who holds a ‘zero error’ record, called an inspiration to women across the nation.


Soaring to the top: China appoints first female captain for flights on home-grown C919

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Promotion of former Boeing 737 pilot Yu Yue, who holds a ‘zero error’ record, called an inspiration to women across the nation

Promotion of former Boeing 737 pilot Yu Yue, who holds a ‘zero error’ record, called an inspiration to women across the nation