The Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC), also called the General
Administration of Civil Aviation of China, was established as a government
agency in 1949 to operate China’s commercial air fleet. In 1988 CAAC’s
operational fleet was transferred to new, semiautonomous airlines and has
served since as a regulatory agency. Search
real-time
China Flights
In 2002 the government merged the nine largest airlines into three regional
groups based in Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou, respectively: Air China,
China Eastern Airlines, and China Southern Airlines, which operate most of
China’s external flights.
>By 2005 these three had been joined by six other major airlines: Hainan
Airlines, Shanghai Airlines, Shandong Airlines, Xiamen Airlines, Shenzhen
Airlines, and Sichuan Airlines. Together, these nine airlines had a combined
fleet of some 860 aircraft, mostly Boeing from the United States and Airbus
from France.
To meet growing demands for passenger and cargo capacity, in 2005 these airlines
significantly expanded their fleets with orders placed for additional Boeing
and Airbus aircraft expected to be delivered by 2010. In June 2006, it was
announced that an Airbus A320 assembly plant would be built in the Binhai New
Area of Tianjin, with the first aircraft to be delivered in 2008.
Air China owns 17.5% of Cathay Pacific (second largest shareholder) and the
Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC), an administrative agency of the
State Council, owns majority and controlling stakes in China Southern Airlines,
China Eastern Airlines, and Air China.
The total number of planes of all mainland Chinese carriers combined will be
near 1,580 by 2010, up from 863 in 2006. By 2025, the figure is estimated to be
4,000.
The twenty seven airlines in the Chinese mainland handled 138 million
passengers, and 22.17 million tons of cargo in 2005.
|