2010-04-29 13:05

The first flight of Capital Airlines is scheduled to depart from Beijing on May 3, Thursday's Beijing Times reported.

Capital Airlines is developed on the basis of Deer Air, an airline focusing on business jet service and also a subsidiary of Hainan Airlines Group (HNA Group).

HNA Group and the Beijing municipal government singed a strategic cooperation agreement this February, jointly injecting capital into Deer Air and renaming it Capital Airlines.

A senior executive from HNA Group's tourism branch who did not give his name told Beijing Times that the carrier has completed all its renaming procedures and determined the new color scheme for Capital Airlines.

The report said a renaming ceremony will be held on the afternoon of May 2, at which HNA Group and the Beijing Tourism Group, a state-owned enterprise on behalf of Beijing government in the injection, will announce their amounts of investment and the new carrier's shareholding structure.

The above-mentioned executive also revealed that a Beijing delegation attending activities at the 2010 Shanghai World Expo will take the first flight of Capital Airlines on May 3.

Another newspaper, China Business News, said on Thursday that HNA Group, the current parent company of Deer Air, will still be the controlling shareholder in the new Capital Airlines.

With Beijing Capital International Airport as its main hub, Deer Air has a registered capital of 776.5 million yuan ($113.9 million) and mainly engages in business jet service and charter flights for tourists.

It currently has 18 business jets and transported more than 2.6 million tourists in charter flights last year, China Business News reported.