Okay Airways, the country's first private airline, had obtained approval from the civil aviation regulator, the General Administration of Civil Aviation of China (CAAC), to start its maiden commercial flight March 11, Chinese language portal Sina.com reported Wednesday.

Sina quoted a company spokesman as saying that Okay began to sell tickets Wednesday.

The airline was busy preparing for its first flight since it obtained the go-ahead from the CAAC after the government completed draft regulation to let private capital into the previously shuttered sector.

Okay's first fight, scheduled at 9:00 a.m. March 11, was from the northern port city of Tianjin to Changsha, capital city of central Hunan Province.

But the spokesman said the company would not disclose the ticket price until the tickets began to be sold, fearing other carriers would make changes to their airfares.

Hainan Airlines, which has China's fourth-largest fleet of civil aircraft, was offering 1,200 yuan (US$144.6) per ticket for the Tianjin-Changsha route.

Okay Airways has its headquarters in Beijing but bases its flights at Binhai International Airport, near Tianjin about 200 kilometers from Beijing.

Okay will sublease two Boeing 737-900s from Boeing Capital via Korean Airlines, and has initial plans to expand to six planes. The airline already had about 100 employees and has registered capital totaling 300 million yuan (US$36 million).

Okay Airways was expected to mainly engage in air cargo and express services, passenger charter and ground distribution services, the China Daily reported last month.

China's aviation regulator also gave the initial go-ahead to several other private carriers, including Eagle United in Chengdu and Spring International Airlines in Shanghai.

(Shenzhen Daily March 10, 2005)