Spring Airlines, one of China's four major private carriers, confirmed here Thursday that the company was granted approval from the General Administration of Civil Aviation of China (CAAC) to operate certain international air routes.
This makes Spring Airlines the second private firm allowed by CAAC to explore the international market.
Another private airline, East Star, based in central China's Wuhan City, won the approval two years ago, but the company was ordered by CAAC to suspend flights in March because of prolonged financial and management problems.
"We just got the approval. It still takes time to design specific routes, flight schedule and pricing. International business is a new field for us. We still need to study CAAC's regulation," said Wang Zhenghua, chairman of Spring Airlines.
He said according to the approval, the company can explore the air market on short-distance routes linking China's mainland with Hong Kong, Macao and neighboring countries, like Japan, South Korea and Russia.
Spring Airlines, found in 2005, became the third private airline in China, after Okay Airways and United Eagle Airlines. It now has a fleet of 13 Airbus 320 passenger jets, flying on some 30 domestic air routes.
