New | China's new budget carrier Jiangxi Airlines ready for take-off
China Southern start-up awaits licence for take-off into mainland skies
A new subsidiary of China Southern Airlines is poised to start flying this year as the latest addition to China's burgeoning low-cost carrier network.
Jiangxi Airlines, a start-up by China Southern-controlled Xiamen Airlines, was waiting for operational permits, a spokesman for Xiamen Air told the South China Morning Post.
"We hope to start flying this year," he said.
He declined to confirm or deny reports by a WeChat-based aviation media platform that Jiangxi Air planned to launch as a no-frills carrier.
"We have not published such news," he said. "We have yet to receive our air operator's certificate, so we do not have a business model to announce at this time."
The spokesman also said Jiangxi Air's initial fleet and crew would come from Xiamen Air, which has 119 Boeing planes, mostly narrowbody B737s.
Jiangxi Air, set up as a joint venture 60 per cent owned by Xiamen Air and 40 per cent by Jiangxi Airlines Investment, would be based in the Jiangxi provincial capital of Nanchang and fly domestic routes using Boeing B737 planes, the Civil Aviation Administration of China had said when it approved the airline in March.