China's Okay Airways resumes service after suspension

CHINA's first private airline, Okay Airways, has resumed passenger service after being suspended from operating for two months, reports Logistics Week. Its cargo service has been operating as scheduled.

Services on seven domestic routes and all flights scheduled have started, including routes linking Tianjin to Harbin, Kunming, Changsha, Sanya, Chengdu and other cities in China, said the airline's main shareholder, Shanghai-based Junyao Group.

The company announced the plan after the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) approved its flight resumption application. Okay Airways suspended passenger services on December 6, nine days ahead of the deadline for suspension set by the CAAC.

The suspension came after some airports, worried about the airline's financial troubles, only to refuel its planes for cash. More than 2,000 stranded passengers at the airline's base in the northern city of Tianjin and at other airports had to be transferred to other flights. Management problems and a lack of capital support from Junyao had been cited as factors in the suspension.

Okay Airways became China's first private carrier in 2005. Junyao Group, through the Beijing Transport Energy Shareholding Co, owns 63 per cent of the airline. The company has 11 aircraft and 800 employees. Prior to the suspension, it ran 20 domestic passenger routes.

Source: Schednet