Lucky Air () is a

low cost carrier A low-cost carrier or low-cost airline (occasionally referred to as '' no-frills'', ''budget'' or '' discount carrier'' or ''airline'', and abbreviated as ''LCC'') is an airline that is operated with an especially high emphasis on minimizing op ...

based in

Kunming Kunming (; ), also known as Yunnan-Fu, is the capital and largest city of Yunnan province, China. It is the political, economic, communications and cultural centre of the province as well as the seat of the provincial government. The headquar ...

Yunnan Yunnan , () is a landlocked Provinces of China, province in Southwest China, the southwest of the People's Republic of China. The province spans approximately and has a population of 48.3 million (as of 2018). The capital of the province is ...

, China. The airline started with flights connecting Kunming with Dali and

Xishuangbanna Xishuangbanna, Sibsongbanna or Sipsong Panna ( Tham: , New Tai Lü script: ; ; th, สิบสองปันนา; lo, ສິບສອງພັນນາ; shn, သိပ်းသွင်ပၼ်းၼႃး; my, စစ်ဆောင်� ...

, and later expanded to other domestic and international destinations. Its main base is

Kunming Changshui International Airport Kunming Changshui International Airport is the primary airport serving Kunming, the capital of Yunnan Province, China. The airport is located northeast of the city center in a graded mountainous area about above sea level. The airport opened ...

. The airline is one of the four founding members of the

U-FLY Alliance U-FLY Alliance () is a regional airline alliance based in the Chinese Special Administrative Region of Hong Kong, and made up of low-cost airlines from Hong Kong, Mainland China, and South Korea. Upon founding, it became the world's first allianc ...

History

The airline was established in July 2004 as a start-up airline known as Shilin Airlines.

Hainan Airlines Hainan Airlines Co., Ltd. (HNA, ) is an airline headquartered in Haikou, Hainan, People's Republic of China. The airline is rated as a 5-star airline by Skytrax. It is the largest civilian-run and majority state-owned air transport company, ma ...

had invested 2.93 million yuan in the company, while its affiliate

Shanxi Airlines Shanxi Airlines was an airline based in Taiyuan in the People's Republic of China. It operated scheduled domestic passenger services. In Nov 29, 2007, it merged with China Xinhua Airlines and Chang An Airlines to form Grand China Air, a subsid ...

invested 47.07 million yuan. The airlines provided the new company with three Dornier aircraft, a

Boeing The Boeing Company () is an American multinational corporation that designs, manufactures, and sells airplanes, rotorcraft, rockets, satellites, telecommunications equipment, and missiles worldwide. The company also provides leasing and product ...

aircraft, and a

Dash-8 The De Havilland Canada DHC-8, commonly known as the Dash 8, is a series of turboprop-powered regional airliners, introduced by de Havilland Canada (DHC) in 1984. DHC was later bought by Boeing in 1988, then by Bombardier in 1992; then by ...

. The Yunnan Shilin Tourism Aviation Co. also invested a further 1 million yuan. On 23 December 2005, Shilin Airlines was renamed Lucky Air. It started operations with a flight between Kunming and Dali within Yunnan on 26 February 2006. The airline is owned by Hainan Airlines, Shanxi Airlines and Yunnan Shilin Tourism Aviation. It has 263 employees (at March 2007). The airline is one of the four founding members of the

, which is the world's first alliance of low-cost carriers. It formed in January 2016 by

HK Express Hong Kong Express Airways Limited (), commonly known as Hong Kong Express or HK Express, is a Hong Kong–based low-cost airline fully owned by Cathay Pacific Airways. It provides scheduled air service to 27 destinations in Asia, including C ...

, Lucky Air,

Urumqi Air Urumqi Air () is a low-cost airline headquartered in Ürümqi, Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, People's Republic of China. It operates scheduled passenger services. Its main hub is Ürümqi Diwopu International Airport in Ürümqi. The airl ...

, and West Air. Lucky intended to deploy 787-9s to Europe and North America by the end of 2016.

Destinations

Lucky Air has expanded its network rapidly. By now, it covers 51 domestic cities, 11 foreign cities and 2 regional cities.

Fleet

Lucky Air Airbus A319-112 B-6221 (8742588573)

, Lucky Air fleet includes the following aircraft:

References

External links

* {{IATA members, china Airlines of China Airlines established in 2004 Companies based in Kunming Transport in Yunnan Chinese brands HNA Group U-FLY Alliance Chinese companies established in 2004 Low-cost carriers