 Shenzhen Airlines: Build Strong Presence |
 |
On December 22, China's Shenzhen Airlines and Mesa Air Group of the United States have created the first Sino-US airline joint venture, with plans to launch a regional carrier serving domestic China routes by late 2007. They said the new carrier will be not only the first Sino-foreign joint venture but the largest regional airline in China.[Details] |
| Hainan Airlines: Reload |
| CAAC announced on Dec.19 that Hainan Airlines Group's subsidiary, Grand Xinhua Express Airlines has applied for public air transport enterprise operating license and planned to operate domestic regional air transport based in Tianjin. Hainan Airlines Group has signed China's largest single order for regional aircraft in August, buying 100 regional jets worth 2.7 billion dollars and became the one owns the largest fleet of regional jets in China.[Details] |
| China Express Airlines: Only Regional Aviation |
| China Express Airlines, the first domestic carrier specializing in regional air service, was launched on September 24 and planned to set bases in some regional hub airports like harbin, Huhehaote, Wuhan and Beijing in 3 years and gradually constitute regional routes network around China. |
| 28 Regional Airports to be Built in West China |
|
 |
| According to the source from "Summit of Airport Construction in West China" on May 27, China has decided to build 28 new regional airports and revamp and expand other 27 airports in West China. |
| Manufacturers: Fighting for Market |
| AVICⅠ: ARJ-21 to Be Assembled |
 |
Main parts of the first designed-in-China regional jet have been delivered and the final assembly is expected to start on March 17, 2007 and end within the year, then it will perform the maiden flight in the first half of 2008, said China Aviation Industry Corporation I (AVICI).[Details] |
| XAC: Big Backlogs for Xinzhou-60 Aircraft |
|
On October 31, the first day of Air Show China 2006, Xi'an Aircraft Industry Company (XAC) was awarded big orders for 30 Xinzhou-60 aircraft and 30 options by Okay Airways and CATIC, respectively. And by now, the company has won orders for 67 Xinzhou-60s from abroad and has started delivery to Zimbabwe, Laos, Republic of Congo and Zambia.
[Details] |
| Embraer: Sell 100 ERJs to Hainan Airlines |
| Embraer and Hainan Airlines of China inked a US$27.25 billion deal for 100 ERJ aircraft, including 50 50-seat ERJ-145s and 50 106-seat ERJ-190s, as the first time for Brazil produced E-JET to enter China.[Details] |
| ATR Incorporation: New to China |
| Filippo Bagnato, ATR CEO, said, "As an emerging market for regional aircraft, China is very important to ATR's global strategy and we will build long term relationship with local partners in China." ATR has set office in Beijing.[Details] |
| Regional air services, also known as feeder-line services, operate flights between medium and small cities, with routes typically between 600 and 1,200 kilometers. The services usually use aircraft which seat less than 100 passengers. Following the growth of tourism and the numbers of high-end travelers out of major cities, regional aviation in China is now speeding up. |
|
| [Editor's Notes] Despite the issues feazing China's fledgling regional aviation such as sluggish development of aircraft under 70 seats, rather small fleets, lack of regional airports and so forth, people have great enthusiasm in this field -- Shenzhen Airlines for the first time enters regional aviation market, Hainan Airlines announces to launch the largest domestic regional airline in 3 to 5 years, government encourages regional aviation by financial subsidies and foreign regional aircraft manufacturers eye on big backlogs from China -- altogether, the spring of China's regional aviation is coming. |
| During Air Show China 2006 in Zhuhai, Wang Chang Shun, Deputy Director of CAAC, said China is undergoing a gradual deregulation in regional aviation market and a plan to show policy-related subsidies to some regional routes and airports is under research. On December 11, the policy of financial subsidies started pilot in Northwest China. |
| Industry official said with increased traffic demands and aviation technology improving regional aviation and regional aircraft manufacture in China will have great perspective. |
|
