A fourth Chinese airline will join the International Air Transport Association (Iata) and a fifth has applied as the mainland moves to improve its airline industry.
Iata marketing director Louis Daigle said yesterday China Southwest Airlines had met all membership prerequisites and would probably be signed up by the end of the week.
He said that China Northwest Airlines had just applied for membership.
They will join existing members Air China, China Eastern and China Southern.
The news follows the launch of the first Chinese translation of Iata publications and comes as the mainland continues to work at improving the reputation of its airline industry.
After a spate of crashes in the early 1990s, China put a freeze on new aircraft orders and the starting up of new airlines.