Among the plane spotters was 13-year-old secondary school student Carson Chan, who left his home in Tin Shui Wai at 7am with his camera and tripod.

“It’s a very rare chance to see the C919 fly here in Hong Kong, so I came here to take advantage of the opportunity,” he said.

“I get to see it with my own eyes and use my own camera to take photos. I feel very honoured and happy.”

Other enthusiasts included 73-year-old King Choi, who also brought along a camera and a telephoto lens.

“I thought the aircraft was really solid, it also didn’t make much noise either,” he said.

“This is the first time that a Chinese-made [passenger] aircraft has performed or flown through the skies of Hong Kong, after all. It is really beautiful.”

Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu, who was attending an event in Victoria Park, snapped a photo of the plane and wrote on social media: “I was very excited to capture the moment the Chinese-made C919 aircraft flew above Victoria Harbour!”

Over at Sun Yat Sen Memorial Park, a group of about 100 people, including some elderly residents and parents with children, as well as a couple of tourists from the mainland, lined up to see the spectacle.

“I’ve never seen a [Chinese] plane fly so low and I’m quite old, so I might not be able to see it again,” said 77-year-old Ng Go-bun.

The retiree said that as a Chinese person, he wanted to see the home-grown plane up close and that it was a good way to spend a morning.

A businessman surnamed Wong applauded as the jet flew over.

“As a Hongkonger, I feel quite proud [to see the plane fly],” he said. “I feel the plane can compete with European or American ones. This feels like a new start for Chinese aviation, which has been lagging.”

Wong added that if he had the opportunity, he would like to be a passenger on the plane for one of its flights.

The jet made two passes over the harbour from west to east, at a height of about 1,500 feet and 1,000 feet respectively.

After the flyover, representatives from the Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China (Comac), the jet’s manufacturer, gave a talk to 300 young Hongkongers at the Civil Aviation Department’s headquarters in the afternoon.

They discussed the development of both the C919 and another aircraft, the ARJ21, and the process of obtaining their airworthiness certificates while pilots of the C919 shared their flying experiences, according to a government press release.

Victor Liu Chi-yung, director general of the department, said the flyover would enhance youngsters’ knowledge and enthusiasm about aviation.

The C919 is China’s first domestically developed narrowbody passenger jet and was designed to compete with the Boeing 737 jet and the Airbus A320 family of single-aisle aircraft. It can carry between 158 and 192 passengers and is intended for use on medium-haul routes and has a range of 5,555km (3,452 miles).

The ARJ21 is the company’s first narrowbody regional jet aircraft powered by a turbofan engine. Debuting in 2016 and entering into international service in 2022, the aircraft has a range of 3,700km and can accommodate 78 to 97 passengers.

Both jets arrived in Hong Kong on Wednesday, marking what city leader Lee called a milestone in the country’s aerospace manufacturing and a demonstration of Beijing’s support for the local aviation industry.

The two aircraft are scheduled to fly back to Shanghai on Sunday.

Additional reporting by Lilian Cheng and Lo Hoi-ying