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China's private airline resumes flights

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2009-01-24 11:35

China's first private airline, Okay Airways, resumed operation Saturday morning just ahead of the peak festival traveling season after a seven-week suspension.

Its first plane, a Boeing 737-800 carrying 62 passengers, landed at Harbin Taiping International Airport, northeast China's Heilongjiang Province, at 10:50 a.m.

The 170-seat plane departed at 9 a.m. from Tianjin Binhai International Airport, said Cai Xinrong, board chairman assistant of Shanghai-based Junyao Group, Okay Airways' main shareholder.

Stepping down the stairways of the plane, Cheng Yandong, a Harbin native, said he was "happy to get a ticket home on time during the peak travel period".

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The return flight, with about 40 passenger aboard, took off at 11:35 a.m. from Harbin and landed at Tianjin at 1: 15 p.m.

The company started ticket sales at about 3:30 p.m. Friday, which left passengers rushing to make their purchases.

Full-scale sales are underway through ticket offices, Web sites and agents, aiming at a share of the Spring Festival market, the company's marketing department said.

Six other domestic flights, linking Tianjin, the airline's base in northern China, to other cities including Kunming, Sanya, Chengdu, will be resumed in the following week through January 31.

"We've made strict safety checks and other preparation measures to provide a safe and pleasant trip to passengers," said Wang Junjin, board chairman of Junyao Group.

"Okay Airways plans to introduce new strategic partners this year, and will pursue high-quality and low-cost services that carry our own characteristics," Wang told Xinhua.

The board chairman pledged to turn economic loss into profit by building Okay Airways into a sound and sustainable company.

Following February 1, all other routes will resume.

Okay Airways suspended passenger services on December 6, nine days ahead of the deadline for suspension set by the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC).

The suspension came after some airports, worried about the airline's financial troubles, would only refuel its planes for cash. More than 2,000 passengers were stranded at the airline's base in the northern city of Tianjin and at other airports and had to be transferred to other flights.

Management problems and a lack of capital support from Junyao had been cited as factors in the suspension.

The CAAC published a statement on its Web site Friday, allowing the airline to resume passenger flights.

"I'm very excited today. So are our 800 employees. Some even jumped off their chairs yesterday when they heard about the good news. Resuming flight has been our joint aspiration," said Wang.

Okay Airways became China's first private carrier in 2005. Junyao Group, through the Beijing Transport Energy Shareholding Co., owns 63 percent of the airline.

The company has 11 aircraft and runs about 20 domestic passenger routes.

Okay Airways' cargo service has been operating as scheduled.