Air China, the nation's flagship airline, announced yesterday the company had
finished its business regrouping to join China Southwest Airlines and Zhejiang
Airlines, and had been formally authorized to operate in domestic and
international air routes by China's aviation administrator.
Air China was the first to finish the restructuring among three aviation
groups, having obtained approval to establish the new venture from the General
Administration of Civil Aviation of China (CAAC) last April.
The other two groups include China Southern Airlines, which is combining the
business from China Northern Airlines and Xinjiang Airlines, and China Eastern
Airlines which is regrouping China Yunnan Airlines and China Northwest Airlines.
"Uniform standards in pilots' training, safety operations, ticket sales and
network connections had been established inside the company, and inspection
teams have since agreed to authorize the group's rights for commercial
operation," said Liu Shaoyong, vice-director of the CAAC.
Since being established on October 28 last year, Air China has spent nine
months working to meet compulsory industry requirements introduced by the CAAC
and the International Air Transport Association.
Liu said both the new China Southern Airlines and China Eastern Airlines need
to meet those standards first before they can be authorized to operate under the
name of the same company.
The new Air China group now operates 2,472 weekly flights with roughly a 26
per cent market share in China.
