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China Express Airlines Company Ltd, the nation's first private carrier focusing on regional routes, took to the skies for the first time yesterday.

The airline's maiden flight was from Guiyang to Liping in Southwest China's Guizhou Province.

China Express will initially concentrate on feeder-line operations within the province using one 50-seat CRJ-200 jet manufactured by Canada-based Bombardier Aerospace. In addition to Liping, it will also fly from Guiyang, the capital of Guizhou Province, to the cities of Xingyi and Tongren.

The regional carrier is expected to lease a further two CRJ-200s from Shandong Airlines by the end of this year, while also planning to use bigger airliners capable of accommodating 70 to 90 passengers in the future to fly longer routes.

"Headquartered in Guiyang, we are currently focusing on the Guizhou market, but we have plans to expand across the country, building more regional air traffic networks nationwide," said China Express Chairman Hu Xiaojun.

China Express Acting Vice-President He Dan told China Daily that the expansion would take place over the next three years, adding that Northeast and North China may be areas where this growth will take place.

Instead of competing with major airlines, Hu said he wants the airline to join forces with major trunk-line carriers such as Air China and China Southern Airlines to further drive the development of China's feeder-line aviation market.

"We will not challenge the top three carriers, namely Air China, China Eastern Airlines and China Southern. What we will do is to partner with them to combine trunk and feeder-line operations," Hu stressed.

"To be more specific, we will bring more passenger flows to trunk-line counterparts by inventing and delivering regional flight products," He Dan elaborated.

Hu revealed that China Express has already designed feeder-line flight products in partnership with Air China and China Southern's Guizhou division.

China Express' nationwide expansion plans will also be based on co-operation with other carriers.

"We will not change our strategy even if we become stronger and go nationwide. We will still choose to partner with trunk-line carriers in driving feeder-line air traffic," added He Dan.

China Express is China's fifth privately invested carrier, but it is the first to focus on regional routes.

China's aviation watchdog, the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC), is attaching growing importance to the growth of feeder-line carriers.

"The development of regional air traffic networks will boost economic growth in China's western regions, which currently lack developed ground transportation facilities," said CAAC Director Yang Yuanyuan.

"In addition, feeder-line carriers can assist the overall development of China's aviation industry," Yang added.

Yang expressed his satisfaction with the development of China's private carriers, but noted that they still face a number of obstacles.

The CAAC boss revealed that the aviation watchdog is planning a formal investigation to get a clearer picture of private carriers' overall business situation.

"We hope to better govern and guide their operations concerning safety standards and commercial development. We are pleased to see China Express adopt a cooperative strategy to work with trunk-line counterparts, which will assist the growth of the whole sector," Yang said.

An industry analyst said that short-haul feeder-line services will certainly find a niche in the Chinese market.

"The combination of feeder and trunk-line air services should be encouraged, given the small passenger flows in many Chinese regional airports," said Liu Weimin, director of the Aviation Laws Research Centre at the Civil Aviation Management Institute of China.

(China Daily September 26, 2006)