Qingdao Airlines is a startup Chinese airline that commenced operations on 26 April 2014. The carrier is based at

Qingdao Jiaodong International Airport Qingdao Jiaodong International Airport is an airport serving the city of Qingdao in Shandong province, China. It received approval in December 2013, and replaced Qingdao Liuting International Airport as the city's main airport. It is located i ...

History

An application for the establishment of an airline based in the Shandong province was filed with the

Civil Aviation Administration of China The Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC; ) is the Chinese civil aviation authority under the Ministry of Transport. It oversees civil aviation and investigates aviation accidents and incidents. As the aviation authority responsible f ...

(CAAC) by the

Yantai Yantai, formerly known as Chefoo, is a coastal prefecture-level city on the Shandong Peninsula in northeastern Shandong province of People's Republic of China. Lying on the southern coast of the Bohai Strait, Yantai borders Qingdao on the ...

-based Nanshan Group in May 2013. Approval was received by the CAAC between that month and June 2013, when Qingdao Airlines was formed.

Corporate affairs

Ownership

Initially, the airline was owned by the Nanshan Group (55%), the Qingdao Transport Development Group (QTDG) (25%) and

Shandong Airlines Shandong Airlines Co,.Ltd. (; nicknamed SDA or ) is an airline based in the Shandong Airlines Center () in Jinan, Shandong. The Chinese carrier operates a sizable domestic network from Jinan, Qingdao and Yantai to major cities across China, to ...

(20%). The initial capital of Qingdao Airlines was CNY1 billion (USD161 million). In July 2015, Shandong Airlines transferred its shares to a subsidiary of the Nanshan Group; , the airline plans to sell the 25% of the shares held by QTDG in order to become fully private. Since November 2015, Qingdao Airlines was fully owned by Nanshan Group.

Key people

, Song Zuowen was the

president President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university * President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ...

of the airline.

Headquarters

The airline's headquarters are in

Chengyang District Chengyang District () is a district of Qingdao, Shandong, People's Republic of China. It has an area of and around 740,000 inhabitants (2013). The district is located at the northern outskirts of Qingdao City proper. Chengyang includes mountain ...

, Qingdao.

Destinations

Operations started on linking Qingdao with

Chengdu Chengdu (, ; simplified Chinese: 成都; pinyin: ''Chéngdū''; Sichuanese pronunciation: , Standard Chinese pronunciation: ), alternatively romanized as Chengtu, is a sub-provincial city which serves as the capital of the Chinese pro ...

. , the airline top five routes ranked by seat capacity were Qingdao–Shanghai, Qingdao–Beijing, Qingdao–Hangzhou, Qingdao–Shenyang and Qingdao–Dalian. , Qingdao Airlines served the following destinations: Qingdao Airlines operates to the following destinations (as of July 2019): The airline originally aimed to become a ″boutique airline″ and had plans to start services to

Shenzhen Shenzhen (; ; ; ), also historically known as Sham Chun, is a major sub-provincial city and one of the special economic zones of China. The city is located on the east bank of the Pearl River estuary on the central coast of southern province ...

and Shenyang in the near future;

Guangzhou Guangzhou (, ; ; or ; ), also known as Canton () and alternatively romanized as Kwongchow or Kwangchow, is the capital and largest city of Guangdong province in southern China. Located on the Pearl River about north-northwest of Hong Kon ...

and

Shanghai Shanghai (; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is one of the four direct-administered municipalities of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The city is located on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the Huangpu River flowin ...

were expected to be served in the longer term.

Fleet

, Qingdao Airlines fleet consists of the following aircraft: In September 2013, an order for

Airbus A320 The Airbus A320 family is a series of narrow-body airliners developed and produced by Airbus. The A320 was launched in March 1984, first flew on 22 February 1987, and was introduced in April 1988 by Air France. The first member of the famil ...

s and 18

A320neo The Airbus A320neo family is a development of the A320 family of narrow-body airliners produced by Airbus. The A320neo family (''neo'' for "new engine option") is based on the previous A319, A320 and A321 ( enhanced variant), which was then ren ...

s was placed in a deal valued at

USD The United States dollar (symbol: $; code: USD; also abbreviated US$ or U.S. Dollar, to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies; referred to as the dollar, U.S. dollar, American dollar, or colloquially buck) is the official ...

2.5 billion. The carrier phased in its first aircraft, a 152-seater Airbus A320, in early April 2014. The carrier took ownership of its first two

s in October 2018. Qingdao Airlines planned to expand its fleet to 60 aircraft by 2020.

References

External links

Qingdao Airlines
{{use dmy dates, date=April 2014 Airlines of China Airlines established in 2013 Companies based in Qingdao Chinese companies established in 2013