22 Mar 2021

China Aviation Industry Newsletter 22 March

Air China to buy 18 Airbus A320neo jets from GECAS subsidiary Air China will buy 18 Airbus A320neo jets from AFS Investments Inc, a subsidiary of aircraft lessor GECAS, the airline announced. Air China said the order was worth $2.24 billion, based on list prices and deliveries of the narrow-body aircraft were expected to be completed by 2022. CAAC regulator prepares to expand airports, build new ones China's civil aviation regulator has set a five-year goal to extend existing airports and build more airports to cater to growing demand. deputy head of the Civil Aviation Administration of China's development and planning department Zhang Qing said “By 2025, China aims to build airports with a designed capacity of 2 billion passenger trips a year, creating a situation where infrastructure is ahead of civil aviation development”. China set for in-flight air-to-ground 5G launches According to TMN four Chinese airlines are close to announcing that they will deploy air-to-ground (ATG) 5G services for in-flight connectivity. Liu Weiwei, General Manager of ATG Products at ZTE, told TMN that in 2021, two 5G ATG networks will be deployed, with more to follow. China's tourism sector reports accelerated recovery China's tourism sector has reported a strong recovery so far this year and is expected to continue its current momentum as China further lifts travel restrictions amid a stable COVID-19 situation. The tourism sector logged encouraging statistics during the Spring Festival holiday in mid-February, according to data from the China Tourism Academy. The country's civil aviation industry handled approximately 23.95 million passenger trips in February, a jump of 187.1% year on year, the latest data from the Civil Aviation Administration of China showed. Tibet Airlines to increase domestic air routes Tibet Airlines announced last week that it will launch 20 new routes starting on Sunday to provide more convenient travel services to the Tibet autonomous region. The new routes connect Lhasa, the regional capital, with Shigatse and Chamdo, and with cities around China including Jinan, Xi'an, Nantong, Yantai, Wenzhou, Quanzhou, Harbin, Zunyi, Luzhou and Sanya. Acumen Aviation © 22 March 2021 All Rights Reserved.