CHINESE AVIATION TAKES OFF

With a host of new routes and big orders for the B787 and A350, China’s carriers are preparing to dominate the skies, says Valerian Ho

China's aviation is preparing to take on its international counterparts with new flights and fleets

China’s aviation industry may still be in its infancy but it has undergone a rapid transformation over the last decade or so. Currently home to more than 20 commercial airlines, it’s now difficult to imagine that prior to Deng Xiaoping’s major political and economic reforms in the 1980s, air travel in China was only possible with the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC). The first privately owned airline to serve China, Xiamen Airlines (now XiamenAir) was established in 1984, while the CAAC-founded China Xinjiang Airlines followed in 1985, serving a handful of international destinations including Moscow, Islamabad and Alamaty in addition to domestic routes (it later became part of China Southern Airlines, in 2003). Sensing the potential, Sichuan airlines was set up in 1986 to serve Western China.

In late 1987, the Chinese government decided to split CAAC’s operating divisions into six separate regional airlines and one of those, Beijing-based Air China, became the country’s flag carrier. Two of CAAC’s other airlines, China Eastern and China Southern, were tasked with serving the eastern and southern part of China. Fastforward to 2014 and these three airlines are among the most profitable Chinese carriers and, along with Hainan Airlines, the most significant. The country even has its own budget airline, Shanghai-based Spring Airlines, which began operating low-cost domestic flights in 2005. Now flying to 15 international destinations, the airline’s ambitious growth typifies the determination of the Chinese aviation industry generally, which is now looking to challenge its Asian and international counterparts by upping the number of destinations it serves and further boosting fleet size.