Air China, carved from a single state carrier and flying to six continents
Until the late 1980s, one government body ran all of China's civil flying. Splitting it into six airlines created Air China, handed the old long-haul jets and intercontinental routes, and today it wears a phoenix emblem drawn by Han Meilin and a name brushed in Deng Xiaoping's calligraphy.
Beijing decided in late 1987 to break up the Civil Aviation Administration of China, and Air China began flying on 1 July 1988 alongside China Eastern, China Southern and three regional siblings. Its share of the inheritance was the prestige end: Boeing 707s, 747s and 767s and the routes abroad. It is now one of the country's big three carriers, with the state holding company owning just over half.
Consolidation followed. In 2001 the six successors agreed on a merger plan, under which Air China, then only fourth among domestic airlines, absorbed China Southwest, creating a group with 118 aircraft. It listed in Hong Kong and London in December 2004, joined Star Alliance in 2007, raised its stake in Air Macau from 51 to 81 percent, spent about 813 million dollars lifting its holding in Cathay Pacific to 30 percent, and took control of Shenzhen Airlines in 2010.
The airline has collected a string of Chinese firsts. It sold the country's first combined air and shuttle-bus tickets, linking Tianjin to flights through Beijing; offered the first free onboard wifi on a Chinese carrier in 2011, though only for tablets and laptops; and flew mainland China's first satellite internet flight in 2013. Spain gave it a tourism merit award, the first foreign airline so honoured, and after lobbying by PETA in 2012 it stopped carrying monkeys to laboratories.
From hubs in Beijing and Chengdu it reaches every habitable continent. Its longest route, begun in 2006, runs to São Paulo by way of Madrid, and Johannesburg was added in 2015. In 2017 it carried 102 million passengers with planes on average 81 percent full, and in 2026 it announced an order for 15 Airbus A350s due from 2030.
Source: Air China
