Report by : Gan Yung Chyan
/ KUCINTA SETIA
Distributed to All Press & Travel Professionals
China is adding new local airline start-ups to Asia's civil aviation scene almost every quarter since 2015.
Following Colorful Guizhou Airlines and Jiangxi Air which launched passenger flights on 31 December 2015 and 29 January 2016 respectively, three new Chinese mainland local airlines are aiming to begin operations by October 2016. Sayacinta - Airpost features these three airlines Hongtu (红土航空), Air Guilin (桂林航空) and Ningbo Airlines (宁波航空) below.
Hongtu, short for Yunnan Hongtu Airlines Co., Ltd., is formed in Kunming on 16 April 2014 with the IATA code A6 and ICAO call-sign HTU. It receives its Air Operator Certificate (AOC) in April 2015 and receives its first Airbus A321-200 aircraft on 22 December 2015 registered B-8285 and named "Dai" after the Dai tribe in Yunnan.
Currently, Hongtu has completed its A321 pilot flight training and tests and it has brought forward its inaugural scheduled flight to 21 May 2016 when it launches daily flight from Kunming to Nanchang. Flights to Zhengzhou and Chengdu will follow by 1 October 2016 using the aircraft. It is advertising one-way fare to Chengdu from 400 RMB. Further new destinations to operate inaugural flights to include Changsha, Shenzhen, Tianjin, Xi'an, Guangzhou, Wuhan, Jinan, Nanjing and Chongqing.
In the long-run, Hongtu plans to launch passenger flights from Kunming to Hong Kong, Macau, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, Suvarnabhumi, Vientiane, Siem Reap, Phnom Penh, Ho Chi Minh City, Hanoi, Yangon, Mandalay and Manila.
With the addition of Hongtu, Yunnan Province will have four local airlines. The three existing Yunnan scheduled passenger airlines are Lucky Air, Kunming Airlines and Ruili Airlines.
According to China Aviation Daily, the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) approved the formation of Air Guilin on 8 October 2015. Investors in Air Guilin are government-owned Guilin Tourism Development Co with a stake of 60 per cent and the balance stake taken up by Guilin Aviation Tourism Group, created by HNA Group.
Air Guilin receives its AOC in April 2016. It has its first Airbus A319 aircraft leased from Capital Airlines and named "Guilin" and will purchase two more A319 aircraft from Capital Airlines, member of HNA Group and subsidiary of Deer Air which is affliated to Hainan Airlines.
The logo of Air Guilin is the figurative design of Elephant Trunk Hill, the symbol of Guilin combined with part of the Chinese slogan of Guilin (甲天下) etched on it and a waving ribbon besides and below the hill design resembling purportedly a stressful bird. The Chinese rate the logo as China's ugliest airline logo to date.
Air Guilin plans to operate domestic routes within the first few years beginning in the first half of 2016 before expanding its route network to include scheduled flights from Guilin to Singapore, Hong Kong, Suvarnabhumi, Ho Chi Minh City, Siem Reap, Manila and Kuala Lumpur. Its IATA code is GT.
Ningbo Airlines is formed on 25 March 2016 by Ningbo Xingye, a joint-venture formed 40 per cent by the Ningbo prefecture-level city Government and 60 per cent by HNA Group, to compete with China Eastern Airlines Zhejiang Branch. It aims to operate its first passenger flight as early as October 2016. Ningbo Xingye will also form Ningbo General Aviation and Ningbo Airlines Cargo at later stages of Ningbo Airlines' development.
According to China Aviation Daily, future start-ups in 2017 include Xinya Air (formerly Tianlong Airlines), a private airline to be based in Dalian formed on the like of Loong Air and Jilin Airlines, based in Jilin city in Jilin Province.
Prefecture-level city-owned Jilin Airlines initiated in March 2016 as part of Jilin Province's aviation tourism project for the next few years aims to operate northeastern Chinese passenger air routes to Shenyang, Changchun, Dalian, Harbin, Beijing, Tianjin and internationally to Pyongyang, Seoul-Incheon, Sapporo, Chita, Khabarovsk, Irkutsk, Vladivostok, among other cities in North, Northeast Asia and Russia.
/ KUCINTA SETIA
Distributed to All Press & Travel Professionals
China is adding new local airline start-ups to Asia's civil aviation scene almost every quarter since 2015.
Following Colorful Guizhou Airlines and Jiangxi Air which launched passenger flights on 31 December 2015 and 29 January 2016 respectively, three new Chinese mainland local airlines are aiming to begin operations by October 2016. Sayacinta - Airpost features these three airlines Hongtu (红土航空), Air Guilin (桂林航空) and Ningbo Airlines (宁波航空) below.
Hongtu, short for Yunnan Hongtu Airlines Co., Ltd., is formed in Kunming on 16 April 2014 with the IATA code A6 and ICAO call-sign HTU. It receives its Air Operator Certificate (AOC) in April 2015 and receives its first Airbus A321-200 aircraft on 22 December 2015 registered B-8285 and named "Dai" after the Dai tribe in Yunnan.
Currently, Hongtu has completed its A321 pilot flight training and tests and it has brought forward its inaugural scheduled flight to 21 May 2016 when it launches daily flight from Kunming to Nanchang. Flights to Zhengzhou and Chengdu will follow by 1 October 2016 using the aircraft. It is advertising one-way fare to Chengdu from 400 RMB. Further new destinations to operate inaugural flights to include Changsha, Shenzhen, Tianjin, Xi'an, Guangzhou, Wuhan, Jinan, Nanjing and Chongqing.
In the long-run, Hongtu plans to launch passenger flights from Kunming to Hong Kong, Macau, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, Suvarnabhumi, Vientiane, Siem Reap, Phnom Penh, Ho Chi Minh City, Hanoi, Yangon, Mandalay and Manila.
With the addition of Hongtu, Yunnan Province will have four local airlines. The three existing Yunnan scheduled passenger airlines are Lucky Air, Kunming Airlines and Ruili Airlines.
According to China Aviation Daily, the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) approved the formation of Air Guilin on 8 October 2015. Investors in Air Guilin are government-owned Guilin Tourism Development Co with a stake of 60 per cent and the balance stake taken up by Guilin Aviation Tourism Group, created by HNA Group.
Air Guilin receives its AOC in April 2016. It has its first Airbus A319 aircraft leased from Capital Airlines and named "Guilin" and will purchase two more A319 aircraft from Capital Airlines, member of HNA Group and subsidiary of Deer Air which is affliated to Hainan Airlines.
The logo of Air Guilin is the figurative design of Elephant Trunk Hill, the symbol of Guilin combined with part of the Chinese slogan of Guilin (甲天下) etched on it and a waving ribbon besides and below the hill design resembling purportedly a stressful bird. The Chinese rate the logo as China's ugliest airline logo to date.
Air Guilin plans to operate domestic routes within the first few years beginning in the first half of 2016 before expanding its route network to include scheduled flights from Guilin to Singapore, Hong Kong, Suvarnabhumi, Ho Chi Minh City, Siem Reap, Manila and Kuala Lumpur. Its IATA code is GT.
Ningbo Airlines is formed on 25 March 2016 by Ningbo Xingye, a joint-venture formed 40 per cent by the Ningbo prefecture-level city Government and 60 per cent by HNA Group, to compete with China Eastern Airlines Zhejiang Branch. It aims to operate its first passenger flight as early as October 2016. Ningbo Xingye will also form Ningbo General Aviation and Ningbo Airlines Cargo at later stages of Ningbo Airlines' development.
According to China Aviation Daily, future start-ups in 2017 include Xinya Air (formerly Tianlong Airlines), a private airline to be based in Dalian formed on the like of Loong Air and Jilin Airlines, based in Jilin city in Jilin Province.
Prefecture-level city-owned Jilin Airlines initiated in March 2016 as part of Jilin Province's aviation tourism project for the next few years aims to operate northeastern Chinese passenger air routes to Shenyang, Changchun, Dalian, Harbin, Beijing, Tianjin and internationally to Pyongyang, Seoul-Incheon, Sapporo, Chita, Khabarovsk, Irkutsk, Vladivostok, among other cities in North, Northeast Asia and Russia.
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