China's first new passenger airline in many years – and the first to be owned entirely by the private sector – has launched charter services after securing final government approvals.
The carrier, Okay Airways, operated its first flight on 11 March out of its base at Tianjin, a north-eastern port city outside Beijing. The charter flight operated to Kunming in the south-west via Changsha in central China.
Okay, which calls itself China's first privately run airline, has sub-leased two Boeing Capital-owned Boeing 737-900s from Korean Air to support its initial operations. It says it will begin with passenger charters and will later operate freighter services.
The company secured its aviation carrier business licence from the Civil Aviation Administration of China at the end of February. Other cities it plans to serve from Tianjin include Guilin, Harbin, Hohhot, Taiyuan and Zhang Jiajie.
China's government, after years of calling for consolidation in the airline sector, has in the past year eased restrictions to allow the launch of new carriers with private ownership. Several others are planned, including Eagle United and Spring International, and all are striving for a lower cost base than existing airlines.
Okay's financial backers have been identified as Ao'kai Investment Development, Beijing Qili Logistics and Xinjiang Qili Investment. The carrier says it has a registered capital of 300 million yuan ($36 million).
Source: Airline Business
