What’s new: The owner of Hainan Airlines Holding Co. Ltd. (600221.SH) has said it plans to expand the group’s fleet to more than 1,000 planes by 2029.
By 2035, the airline and its subsidiaries aim to operate 1,200 to 1,300 aircraft, said Fang Wei, chairman of Liaoning Fangda Group Industrial Co. Ltd. at a meeting Sunday. Liaoning Fangda took over HNA Group Co. Ltd.’s flagship carrier in December 2021 as part of the embattled-conglomerate’s restructuring.
Hainan Airlines and its subsidiaries had a fleet of more than 800 planes as of the end of 2022, according to Liaoning Fangda’s website. The airline’s own 342-strong fleet includes 260 Boeing aircraft and 64 from Airbus, its 2022 financial results showed.
In late April, Hainan placed an order for 100 planes with state-owned aerospace giant Commercial Aircraft Corp. of China Ltd., including 60 of its C919 jets.
Fang said the carrier will also boost its operations by strengthening its financial management and upgrading its services to improve the customer experience.
The background: Hainan Airlines remained deep in the red in 2022, booking more than 20.2 billion yuan ($2.8 billion) in losses attributable to shareholders. The airline said in a filing dated Saturday that it expects losses of between 1.5 billion yuan and 2.1 billion yuan for the first half of this year.
Liaoning Fangda’s takeover of the airline was part of the bankruptcy restructuring of once high-flying HNA, which embarked on an aggressive debt-fueled spending spree in the 2010s, acquiring luxury properties and major stakes in firms such as Hilton Worldwide Holdings Inc. It faltered after the government tightened financing rules and oversight for overseas asset purchases in 2017.
Related: In Depth: Behind HNA’s Fall, a Web of Nepotism Spreading from New York to Hainan
Contact reporter Kelsey Cheng (kelseycheng@caixin.com) and editor Jonathan Breen (jonathanbreen@caixin.com)
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