Airlines
Hunan to launch Zhongnan Airlines, CEA and BA sign codeshare deal
August 26th 2016
Hunan Airport Management Group, the state-controlled firm that oversees operations at the province’s airports, has unveiled plans to launch Zhongnan Airlines (Central South Airlines), a carrier based in Changsha, the capital of Hunan province. Read More » It has registered capital of a billion yuan ($152 million) and is looking for a major Mainland carrier as a partner for the project.
Home to approximately 65 million people and the province where Mao Tse-tung started his political career, capital Changsa has seven million residents in China’s seventh most populous province. China Southern Airlines, China Eastern Airlines, Shenzhen Airlines, Xiamen Airlines and Okay Airways have operational bases in Changsha, but Hunan province is without a “home carrier”.
Nanning-based GX Airlines, in prosperous Guangxi province, last weekend took delivery of its first A320, an ex-AirAsia aircraft. The carrier operates a fleet of ten E190s that fly to 33 domestic destinations.
Separately, Shanghai’s China Eastern Airlines and British Airways (BA) have signed a significant expansion of their codeshare partnership. BA passengers can now seamlessly connect to Kunming, Xian, Nanjing, Hangzhou and Chongqing following their BA flights to Shanghai and Chengdu. In return, China Eastern customers can connect from London’s Heathrow on BA flights to Aberdeen, Belfast, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Leeds, Manchester and Newcastle.
In other Mainland news, China Southern will launch a thrice-weekly Lanzhou-Urumqi-Moscow B737-800 route on September 22 after 14 years of operating its Urumqi-Moscow leg. Also, the airline will add a four-weekly A320 service between Shenzhen and Jakarta, a five-weekly B777-300ER service linking its Guangzhou hub with Toronto, and a thrice-weekly A330 route to Adelaide, the first direct flight between the Mainland and South Australia’s capital city.
HNA Group’s Beijing Capital Airlines (BCA) has confirmed December 30 as the launch date for thrice-weekly Hangzhou-Qingdao-Vancouver A330 flights, configured for 222 passengers, with 36 seats in business and 186 seats in economy. The airline received its IATA IOSA certification in May.
“Beijing Capital Airlines is the sixth airline to serve Western Canada’s Vancouver from China, two more than any other airport in North America or Europe. It is a true testament to our position as a connecting hub to the Asia-Pacific and to Vancouver’s competitiveness in attracting new carriers,” said Vancouver Airport Authority president and CEO, Craig Richmond.
Air China, China Eastern, China Southern, Sichuan Airlines and Xiamen Airlines fly to Vancouver from the Mainland, while Hong Kong’s Cathay Pacific Airways serves British Columbia twice a day and Taiwan’s China Airlines (CAL) and EVA Air fly daily from Taipei.
Separately, HNA Group’s Tianjin Airlines this week said it will launch a year round, thrice-weekly Tianjin-Chongqing-Auckland A330 route from December, Tianjin Airlines’ first destination in Australasia and New Zealand.
