Airline News
China Digest: Hainan Airlines parent and Xiamen Air continue expansion
June 22nd 2015
HNA Group’s Beijing Capital Airlines (BCA) will be the next Chinese carrier to add long-haul operations, bringing the number of Mainland carriers to fly long-haul to seven, Read More » the same number of airlines across all of North America that offer long-haul services, said the CAPA consultancy. From September, BCA will add three A330s to its fleet, which until now was made up of wide bodies. Its routes are expected to include Hangzhou, Beijing and Copenhagen and Helsinki, according to WCARN. Meanwhile, HNA’s primary carrier, Hainan Airlines, last week launched three routes between Mainland China and the U.S. Hainan inaugurated Beijing-San Jose on June 15 and Shanghai-Boston and Shanghai-Seattle on June 20 and June 22, respectively. All three services are operated by the B787.
HNA Group earlier this month signed a strategic cooperation agreement with the Ningbo municipal government to launch Ningbo Airlines. China's WCARN news reported the start-up would use Ningbo’s Lishe Airport as its primary hub, with plans to operate 16-20 single-aisle aircraft on domestic routes by 2020. The agreement included the establishment of a general aviation company focusing on business aviation, helicopter and seaplane operations, cargo and a MRO unit. In other news, executives at Hong Kong Airlines, another HNA offshoot, have told This Week in Asia-Pacific Aviation the carrier would launch A330 services from Hong Kong to Cairns and the Gold Coast in Australia later this year.
Xiamen Airlines is looking at the Australian market for growth. On a recent visit to China, Tasmanian Parliamentary Secretary for Small Business and Trade, Adam Brooks, said Fujian Province authorities “were discussing” the prospect of a direct link between Xiamen and Hobart, possibly using the carrier’s B787-8s, currently deployed to Amsterdam and Sydney, its only two long-haul destinations. At last week’s Paris Air Show, Xiamen Airlines signed a $240 million 15-year OnPointSM solution agreement with GE Aviation for the material necessary to overhaul the 12 GEnx-1B engines selected to power the six B787s.
In the interim, China Eastern Airlines has said it would double the number of flights between its Shanghai hub and Sydney and Melbourne by November on the condition its proposed alliance with Qantas Airways is approved, in a move meant to alleviate concerns expressed by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) that has resulted in a drawn-out debate since March.
