Subsidiary of China Eastern to go budget
Shanghai Daily, July 3, 2014 Adjust font size:
China Eastern Airlines said Wednesday that it plans to rebrand its Beijing-based subsidiary China United Airlines as a budget carrier.
The move will include expanding the unit’s fleet to 80 aircraft by 2019, from 26 at present, the parent company said.
It did not say whether it will buy new planes or transfer aircraft between its fleets.
China United currently flies only Boeing 737s, said its President Tang Bing.
Liu Shaoyong, chairman of China Eastern, told reporters that the subsidiary will seek to bring in a strategic investor. He did not elaborate.
Though based at Nanyuan Airport in Beijing, China United is expected to move to the capital’s new facility in Daxing District, which is set to open in 2018, Tang said.
The company also operates two flights out of Shanghai — to Beijing and Shijiazhuang — though this offering will be expanded with the establishment of the new budget service, he said.
The rebranding of China United will inevitably raise questions about the fate of Jetstar Hong Kong, a budget carrier jointly owned by China Eastern and Australia’s Qantas, which has yet to secure its operators license.
