News
Hongtu Airlines launches in Kunming and one more cargo carrier starts up in Guangzhou
May 27th 2016
There appears to be no near end in sight to the number of new carriers taking to the skies in China. This week Hongtu Airlines, a start-up based at Kunming’s Changshui International Airport, received its Air Operator’s Certificate from the Civil Aviation Administration of China’s (CAAC’s) southwest branch and immediately launched domestic services with two A321s it had previously acquired. Read More »
Hongtu’s first revenue service took off from Kunming to Nanchang last Saturday, followed by a Kunming-Zhengzhou flight. The carrier, with a starting capital of 600 million yuan ($91.5 million), plans to receive two A320s and an A319 in the coming months to start flights to Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Xian and Beijing. It intends to have six Airbus aircraft at year-end and 100 planes in its fleet in ten years.
Hongtu will be the sixth airline to be based at Changshui, following Lucky Air, Kunming Airlines, Ruili Airlines and the southwest branches of China Eastern Airlines and Sichuan Airlines. It is a joint-venture between Kunming Evergreen Financing (30%) and local tycoon, Tang Longcheng, (20%), with the remainder held by a consortium of five local firms.
In Guangzhou, cargo start-up Longhao Airlines has received preliminary CAAC approval to commence B737F domestic operations. Owned by the Guangdong Longhao Group, the cargo carrier has initial starting capital of 400 million yuan ($61 million).
At Juneyao Airlines, it is reported the management is looking to establish branches in Jiangsu and Yunnan provinces, the first branches of the airline to be set up outside its Shanghai hub.
Elsewhere in Mainland aviation, Beijing Capital Airlines has applied to the CAAC for twice-weekly traffic rights between Hangzhou, Beijing and Lisbon, using A330 aircraft. The HNA Group carrier has been working closely with travel agencies to launch leisure-heavy routes to Europe, including the destinations of Copenhagen, Madrid, Zagreb, Vancouver and Mexico City. It also has confirmed September 29 as the launch date for its three times a week Shenyang-Qingdao-Melbourne service.
