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Long-haul LCC Lucky Air inaugurates Kunming-Moscow and plans for Irkutsk
June 16th 2017
Kunming-based Lucky Air on Monday officially became China’s first long-haul low-cost carrier when it launched a twice-weekly Kunming-Moscow Domodedovo A330-300 route. Read More » The service will be upgraded to thrice-weekly flights starting from July.
Lucky Air’s A330s are on secondment to the budget airline from parent Hainan Airlines. Both Lucky Air and Hainan Airlines are HNA Aviation carriers under the HNA Group conglomerate.
The budget carrier also plans a three times a week Kunming-Irkutsk B737-800 service from June 28, its second route to Russia after Moscow.
Lucky Air intends to set up another long-haul low-cost carrier in Chengdu although the Chengdu-Moscow market is relatively well served. Sichuan Airlines flies A330s three times a week to Sheremetyevo Airport and VIM Airlines serves Domodedovo International Airport twice a week. Earlies this month, the Russian carrier accepted its first B777-300ER, an ex-Emirates Airline aircraft.
Lucky Air was a founding member of the U-Fly Alliance of low-cost airlines and it is expected U-Fly will provide significant feed into the Lucky Air network. The carrier holds a 14% market share at its Kunming hub, making it the second largest airline there following China Eastern Airlines’ Yunnan branch. Lucky Air has a fleet of 45 aircraft serving 86 domestic and 13 international routes.
Ruili Airlines has the third largest presence in Kunming. The Yunnan JingCheng Group airline last week agreed to lease three B737 MAXs from AVIC International Leasing but did not disclose delivery dates. In 2015, Ruili Airlines, in cooperation with AVIC International Leasing and Minsheng Financial Leasing, agreed to purchase up to 60 B737 MAXs. At the Paris Air Show that year it converted 30 of them into firm orders. The airline plans to have 80 aircraft by 2025, including six firm order B787-9s from 2021.
