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"Everything went just as we desired," said Han Jing, a spokesman for the airline. "The first flight was very successful." Aircraft makers ranging from U.S.-based Boeing Co. and Europe's Airbus SA to Brazil's Embraer are looking to China to drive sales as its population of 1.3 billion increasingly take to air travel. Okay says it will fly six Boeing 737 aircraft, focusing on domestic charter flights, cargo and express delivery services. The aircraft carry the English letters "OK" in gold on their white fuselages. The airline said its president, Sui Mingguang, was at the controls for the 4 1/2-hour maiden flight, which included a stop in the central city of Changsha. Okay is owned by investors from Beijing and the southern financial centre of Shenzhen, near Hong Kong, according to the government newspaper China Daily. China began easing restrictions on private investment in airlines in early 2004. The launch of three more privately owned carriers has also been approved as China tries to build up modern airlines able to compete with bigger, established foreign rivals. Other private airlines are to debut in coming months - Shanghai-based Spring International Airlines; Eagle Airlines, in the southwestern city of Chengdu, and Huaxia Airlines in northwestern China's Gansu province. China's airlines have been through wrenching changes since the government broke up its monopoly carrier in the early 1990s, creating more than a dozen regional carriers. Major state-owned carriers such as Shanghai-based China Eastern and China Southern in the southern business capital of Guangzhou invested in fleets of modern Boeing and Airbus jets, with frequent-flier programs, multilingual flight attendants and international route networks. Beijing, Shanghai and dozens of other cities built gleaming, futuristic airports. But a glut of competitors sparked a price-cutting war, driving many to the brink of bankruptcy. In response, regulators have forced airlines to merge into three large groups, hoping to create competitors big and strong enough to face foreign airlines. Sharp cutbacks in routes flown by Chinese carriers have created openings for Okay and other competitors. No other airline flies on Okay's route from Tianjin to Kunming. © Copyright 2007 by Finfacts.com |
