Urumqi Airlines to launch its first flight on 15 August 2014

Report by : Gan Yung Chyan
                / KUCINTA SETIA
Distributed to All Press & Travel Professionals

Today's China civil aviation market is witnessing emergence of new airlines that are related to Hainan Airlines' parent company HNA Group.

According to reliable sources in China, Urumqi Airlines otherwise known in full as HNA Urumqi Airlines will launch its first flight on 15 August 2014. This was announced by HNA Group, the parent company of Hainan Airlines, at a press conference in Urumqi on 27 June 2014.

Urumqi Airlines will initially operate domestic routes in China including duplicating routes of China Xinjiang Airlines with rights to open regional direct flights from Urumqi to Hong Kong, Macau and across the Straits of China to Taipei. It also plans to launch flights to Bishkek, Tashkent, Almaty, Astana, and as far as to Moscow and Europe eventually.

HNA Urumqi Airlines was first established and registered in Gaoxin District of Urumqi as Urumqi Airlines by Hainan Airlines Xinjiang Branch General Manager Zhang Jingsheng on 15 May 2014 as a joint-venture between HNA Group which holds a 70 per cent stake and Urumqi Urban Construction Investment Co Ltd taking up the remaining stake of 30 per cent in the new carrier.

Initially, flight operations will be handled by professional and technical staff from HNA Group. The Boeing B737 fleet of Urumqi Airlines will be leased from Hainan Airlines.

Besides Urumqi Airlines, HNA Group is also in progress to launch partial municipality-owned Fuzhou Airlines, Heilongjiang Airlines and Guilin Airlines while one of its subsidiairies Tianjin Airlines plans to launch Guangxi Airlines in Nanning.

Besides the above city-based and municipal airlines, HNA Group has stakes in Lucky Air, Capital Airlines, Hong Kong Airlines and HK Express.