Hainan Airlines has paid 400 million yuan to buy the airport serving the Three Gorges Dam, after the government stepped in to block its takeover by a young private firm.
An official of Sanxia airport on Saturday said the airline signed a contract last Wednesday to buy 90 per cent of the airport owned by the Yichang city government, which keeps the remainder.
In January last year, the privately held Junyao Group announced that it had agreed to buy the airport for 550 million yuan, of which it would spend 350 million yuan for the acquisition and 200 million on rebuilding and expansion.
It was the first purchase of a mainland airport by a private company and hailed as a breakthrough in a sector previously off-limits to private capital.
However, the purchase did not receive the approval of regulators in Beijing, perhaps because it is the airport closest to the strategically important Three Gorges Dam.
Based in Shanghai, Junyao is owned by Wang Junyao, an entrepreneur from Wenzhou, in Zhejiang province, who made his fortune in chartering aircraft as well as dairy products and property.
Junyao officials were unavailable for comment at the weekend.
