Addendum
HK Express adds new CEO to management team
February 1st 2018
Former chairman of HNA-controlled Suparna Airlines Co. Ltd, Luo Cheng, is the new CEO of low-cost carrier, HK Express. Read More » The Hong Kong LCC said Luo would work with its executive chairman, Zhong Guosong, and recently appointed president, Li Dianchun, on strategy, operations, customer service and flight operations at the airline. HK Express also is majority-owned by the HNA Group.
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Luo has spent two decades in aviation, including a period in Ghana as co-chairman and chief executive of HNA Group sister company, Africa World Airlines, before he moved to Suparna Airlines in Shanghai.
Suparna Airlines began life as Yangtze River Express at Hongqiao airport in Shanghai in 2003. At the time, the HNA Group owned 85% of the cargo carrier. The airline’s ownership was restructured in 2006 when 49% of its shares were sold, including a 25% holding to China Airlines.
With the changed name of Yangtze River Airlines, the carrier expanded its operations to passenger services in mid-2015 and launched its first passenger flight, between Sanya on Hainan Island and Shanghai, in December of the same year.
The airline now operates both domestic and international services from Shanghai Pudong and also from a smaller hub in Xian. It was rebranded as Suparna Airlines in July last year and remains part of the HNA Group.
