100th plane takes flight for Spring Airlines

SPRING Airlines began operating its 100th aircraft at Hongqiao Airport yesterday, the first Chinese private carrier to have a fleet of 100 planes.

The airline signed an agreement with Shanghai Airport Authority yesterday to open more flights from Shanghai to boost China’s Belt and Road initiatives and integrated development of the Yangtze River Delta region. It will also help to realize Shanghai’s ambition to become an international air transport hub, according to the agreement.

The budget carrier opened new flights between Pudong and Yangon in Myanmar and Narita in Japan this year. It has also increased the frequency of its flights from Pudong to Yan’an in the northwest province of Shaanxi, Sapporo in Japan and Jeju in South Korea.

The airline expected to handle about 11 million passengers at the Pudong and Hongqiao airports in 2019, a 5 percent increase on year.

Wang Yu, the carrier’s chairman and son of Spring’s founder Wang Zhenghua, said “safety, punctuality, service, profitable and long-term vision” were the airline’s key development concepts.

Spring was established in July 2005 as China’s first private carrier. It started operating between Shanghai and Yantai in the eastern Shandong Province with three aircraft. It is now China’s biggest private airline with 94 A320s and six Boeing 737s. They operate over 230 domestic and 65 international routes, covering popular business and tourism cities in southeast and northeast Asia.

Spring took delivery of its 100th aircraft, an A320neo on December 19. The airline said it plans to purchase A321s, the longer version of the A320, to boost its international network.