Guests made a beeline for the C919 during its inaugural flight demonstration at the Singapore Airshow from Feb 20 to 25. As is the case with other major passenger jets, the C919's components come from suppliers around the world.

The fly touched down on Vice President Mike Pence's lustrous white hair midway through the vice-presidential debate on Wednesday night. For more than two minutes, it stayed put - a jarring black dot on millions of TV screens.