News
HNA to launch Shenniao Airlines in 2017
December 2nd 2016
Another day, another airline or so one could believe when reporting on aviation in Mainland China. This week it emerged that HNA Group’s Lucky Air, a domestic and international low-cost carrier (LCC), is in the final stages of setting up a new budget airline out of Chengdu. Read More » The new carrier will be called Shenniao Airlines, translated as “sacred bird airlines”.
Kunming-headquartered Lucky Air will hold a 35% equity in the carrier, with Yunnan Xiangpeng Investment Co. and Chengdu Communications Investment Group Co. sharing the remaining 45% and 20%, respectively. Shenniao will have a start-up capital of $436 million and will be the ninth airline to set up in Chengdu.
Separately, HNA’s Hainan Airlines this week applied for three times a week Chengdu-London traffic rights from January and also three times a week Shenzhen-London from August with either A330 or B787 aircraft. It stopped short of saying whether it plans to fly to Heathrow or Gatwick. On Monday, the airline agreed to sell four Embraer E145LRs, including spare engines and other replacements parts, to Tianjin Airlines for $65 million.
