Spring Airlines, the only mainland budget airline to have survived the economic downturn, will delay its plan to list on the stock market to 2012 to capture a higher valuation.
Wang Zhenghua, the founder and chairman of the Shanghai-based carrier, told the South China Morning Post he is postponing the Shanghai listing plan as he believes the airline industry will enter a 'peak cycle' after 2012, enabling the carrier to command a higher price on the market.
His forecast is based on the seven- to eight-year peak cycles the industry underwent in the past. The recent cycle, which began in 2008 when global carriers started to recover from a slump, would peak between 2012 and 2014, Wang said.
'We are just a small to medium-sized carrier with a humble asset value. I don't want to go public in a rush and sell cheap,' he said.
Wang had previously planned to sell up to 25 per cent of the company in the second half of next year.
Four years ago, Citigroup had valued the company at up to 8 billion yuan (HK$9.3 billion).