Hainan Airlines


Hainan Airlines Co., Ltd. is an airline headquartered in Haikou, Hainan, People's Republic of China. It is the largest civilian-run and majority state-owned air transport company, making it the fourth-largest airline in terms of fleet size in the People's Republic of China, and tenth-largest airline in Asia in terms of passengers carried. It operates scheduled domestic and international services on 500 routes from Hainan and nine locations on the mainland, as well as charter services. Its main base is Haikou Meilan International Airport, with hubs at Beijing Capital International Airport and Xi'an Xianyang International Airport and several focus cities. Hainan Airlines is a Skytrax 5-star airline.

History

Early years

Hainan Airlines was established in October 1989 as Hainan Province Airlines in Hainan, the largest special economic zone in China. Hainan Province Airlines became China's first joint-stock air-transport company following a restructuring in January 1993 and began scheduled services on 2 May 1993. The initial 250 million yuan was financed by the Hainan government and the corporate staff. The rest came from institutional shareholders. In 1996, the provincial airline was renamed Hainan Airlines.
American Aviation LLC, controlled by George Soros, had been a major shareholder of the airline since 1995.
Executive-jet operations with a Bombardier Learjet 55 were added in April 1995. In 1998, Hainan Airlines became the first Chinese carrier to own shares in an airport after it purchased 25% stake of Haikou Meilan International Airport.

Development since the 2000s

In 2000, HNA Group was established and became the third largest shareholder of Hainan Airlines. It also controlled Shanxi Airlines, Chang An Airlines and China Xinhua Airlines. By 2003 Hainan, the main airline, overtook Chang'an as the fourth largest airline in China.
In 2007 Grand China Air was established as the new holding company, when American Aviation became its subsidiary.
On 29 September 2005, HNA Group ordered 42 Boeing 787-8s, 10 of which were earmarked for the Hainan Airlines fleet. In January 2006, China Aviation Supplies Import and Export Group Corporation ordered 10 Boeing 737-800s for Hainan Airlines. In September 2006, Hainan Airlines ordered another 15 Boeing 737-800s.
On 4 December 2007, Hainan Airlines acquired three Airbus A340-600s on lease from International Lease Finance Corporation. On 14 November 2007, Hainan Airlines received its first Airbus A330-200. In June 2007, Hainan Airlines ordered 13 Airbus A320-200 aircraft. In late 2007, Hainan Airlines ordered 50 Embraer ERJ-145s and 50 Embraer 190s, with a total value of US$2.7 billion. The 50-seat ERJ-145s were produced by the Harbin Embraer Aircraft Industry joint venture, located in Harbin. E-190 deliveries began in December 2007. Due to the global financial crisis and huge losses incurred in 2008, the ERJ-145 order was reduced to 25. The E-190 order remained unchanged.
On 25 March 2015, Hainan Airlines announced its intention to acquire 30 Boeing 787-9s, which are all to join the Hainan Airlines Fleet. The delivery of the aircraft is scheduled to be completed by 2021. Two leased Boeing 787-9 aircraft were delivered in Spring 2016. Hainan Airlines will also be among the first operators of the COMAC C919, with deliveries beginning in the 2020s.

Corporate affairs

Offices

Hainan Airlines and the HNA Group have their headquarters in the HNA Building, in Haikou, Hainan. with other office premises HNA Tower in focused cities including Beijing, Chongqing, Guangzhou, and Shanghai. It was previously headquartered in the HNA Development Building a.k.a. the Haihang Development Building along Haixiu Road in Haikou.

Shareholders

, the Hainan provincial government owns 53.67% of Hainan Airlines' shares through Grand China Air Holding Company, which is controlled by the investment arm of the Hainan government. Grand China Air is the direct parent company of Hainan Airlines, which was partially owned by Hainan Development Holdings, HNA Group, Starstep, Haikou Meilan International Airport, Shenhua Group and other shareholders. HNA Group owned 3.53% shares directly and via Changjiang Leasing, owned an additional 3.08% shares as the second largest shareholder. Haikou Meilan International Airport was the third largest shareholder for 5.13% shares. Moreover, HNA Group also owned Haikou Meilan International Airport partially, as well as Hainan Airlines as cross ownership. A private equity fund that was managed by Shanghai Pudong Development Bank, owned 4.91% shares as the fourth largest shareholder.

Services

Lounges

Hainan Airlines operates several self-owned airport lounges at its main hub and focus cities including Beijing, Haikou, Xi'an, Guangzhou, and Urumqi. In addition, the airline will soon open its exclusive international departure lounge at its main international hub Beijing International Airport Terminal 2. The airline also operates an exclusive Transit Lounge for transferring HNA Group passengers at Beijing Airport Non-restricted area.

Frequent-flyer program

Hainan Airlines's frequent-flyer program is called Fortune Wings Club. The airlines's subsidiaries Hong Kong Airlines, Lucky Air, Tianjin Airlines, Beijing Capital Airlines, Urumqi Airlines, Suparna Airlines, GX Airlines, Fuzhou Airlines and parent company Grand China Air are also parts of the program. It is also possible for passengers to collect miles on Alaska Airlines, Etihad Airways, Virgin Australia, TAP Portugal and the airlines that have codeshare agreements with Hainan Airlines.
Members can earn miles on flights as well as through consumption with Hainan Airlines's credit card. When enough miles are collected, members can be upgraded to Elite members which are divided into four tiers: Fortune Wings Platinum membership, Gold membership, Silver membership, and Flying Card membership. Elite membership get extra services.

Accolades

Hainan Airlines is one of ten airlines worldwide rated as five-star by Skytrax, along with All Nippon Airways, Asiana Airlines, Cathay Pacific, EVA Air, Garuda Indonesia, Japan Airlines, Lufthansa, Qatar Airways, and Singapore Airlines.
In June 2019 they were ranked #7 in the Skytrax World's Top 10 Airlines of 2019 ratings and were winners in the following additional categories: Best Airline in China: World's Best Business Class Amenities, Best Airline Staff in China, Best Airline Cabin Cleanliness in China, Best Cabin Crew in China.

Destinations

As of January 2017, Hainan Airlines operates seven bases across China: Beijing- Capital, Guangzhou, Haikou, Hangzhou, Sanya, Shenzhen and Xi'an. It operates an extensive network across the People's Republic of China, connecting Asia, Europe, North America and Oceania. It serves nearly 500 domestic and international routes and flies to more than 90 cities.
Hainan operates international regular flights and offers charter flights to 51 various destinations in 28 countries such as flights from Beijing to Almaty, Toronto, Berlin, Brussels, Seattle/Tacoma, St. Petersburg, Moscow, Tel Aviv, Chicago, Las Vegas, San Jose, California and Boston; Beijing, Xi'an, Dalian, Guangzhou, Haikou to Taipei; Beijing, Haikou, Nanning to Bangkok; Hefei via Haikou to Singapore and others. Hainan also received official approval from the US DOT to begin nonstop flights between Beijing and Chicago. As of June 2014, Hainan began servicing Boston directly with a four-times-weekly 787 flight from Beijing Capital International Airport. It was the first direct flight between Boston and China. The airline began service in the second quarter of 2013 with the Boeing 787 Dreamliner aircraft. It was the first Chinese carrier to offer flights between the two cities. Flights from Beijing-Capital to Chicago-O'Hare began on 3 September 2013.
On 23 October 2015, Hainan announced flights to Manchester, United Kingdom, starting in summer 2016. Hainan announced the launch of a direct route between Beijing and Calgary, Canada, as of 30 June 2016. During the second half of 2017, Hainan Airlines began flights from Shanghai to Tel Aviv and restarted flights from Shanghai to Brussels. In late September 2017 Hainan Airlines commenced direct flights to and from Brisbane, Australia, several times per week, and also to Belgrade, Serbia, via Prague, every Monday and Friday. On 8 March 2018, Hainan Airlines announced flights between Changsha and London Heathrow, commencing 23 March 2018.
and on 15 March 2018, they announced round trip flights between Beijing-Capital, Dublin, and Edinburgh commencing 12 June 2018. In mid-October 2018, flights from Shenzen to Vienna were launched.

Codeshare agreements

Hainan Airlines has codeshare agreements with the following airlines:

Current fleet

the Hainan Airlines fleet consists of the following aircraft:

Fleet history

Hainan Airlines has previously operated the following aircraft:
AircraftFleetIntroducedRetired
Airbus A319-100620052008
Airbus A340-600320082014
Boeing 737-300919932014
Boeing 737-300SF120042005
Boeing 737-400719952014
Boeing 767-300ER520022018
Fairchild Dornier 328JET2719992009