Joy Air (Chinese: 幸福航空; pinyin: Xìngfú Hángkōng) is a Chinese airline launched jointly by China Eastern Airlines and AVIC I on 29 March 2008 [1] based at Xi'an. The airline started testing service in June 2009, and commenced passenger service at the end of 2009.[2] On December 14, 2020, Happy Airlines Co., Ltd.'s application to change the main operating base airport has been reviewed by the Civil Aviation Administration of North China and Northwest China. The current base airport will be Tianjin Binhai International Airport, and it will be changed to Xi'an Xianyang International Airport.[3]

Joy Air
幸福航空
IATA ICAO Call sign
JR JOY JOY AIR
Founded29 March 2008; 16 years ago (2008-03-29)
Commenced operations1 June 2009; 15 years ago (2009-06-01)
HubsXi'an
Focus cities
Fleet size8
Destinations17
Websitewww.joy-air.com

History

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The airline began flying on 1 June 2009 with a fleet of 3 MA-60 turboprops.[4] This airline focuses on the northwestern part of China. The airline was testing its aircraft until the end of 2009 when it commenced passenger service with 4 MA-60 turboprops. The company is mainly owned by China Eastern Airlines, with the remaining owned by AVIC Group. China Eastern is planning to sell most of its shares in order to generate money for the company. Joy Air is expected to own 50 ACAC ARJ 21 and 50 MA-60 in 8 years.[5]

Joy Air and Okay Airways were announced as launch customers for the Xian MA700 aircraft and are to be involved with the development of the aircraft, which is due to make its maiden flight in 2017.[6]

Fleet

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Joy Air MA-60 at Yinchuan Airport
 
Model of a Joy Air ARJ-21
 
Joy Air MA-60 at Tianshui Maijishan Airport

As of February 2023, Joy Air fleet consists of the following aircraft:[7]

Joy Air fleet
Aircraft In Service Orders Passengers Notes
Boeing 737-800 5 186
Comac ARJ21 50 85
Comac C919 20 156
Xian MA60 3[8] 40 60
Total 8 110

Incidents and accidents

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On 4 February 2014 Joy Air MA60 flight JR1533 from Taiyuan, China, carrying 7 crew members and 37 passengers, had a mechanical failure on the landing gear while landing at Zhengzhou. This caused landing gear to break and the aircraft's nose cone to hit the tarmac. There were no injuries.

On 10 May 2015, Joy Air MA60 flight JR1529 from Yiwu to Fuzhou with 45 passengers and 7 crew landed on Fuzhou runway 3 at about 11:57 but veered off the runway and came to a stop off the runway edge about 500 metres past the runway threshold and about 50 metres off the runway centerline with all gear on soft ground. The engines struck the ground causing the wings to be nearly torn off, and resulted in substantial damage to the fuselage and structure. 7 occupants were injured.

References

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  1. ^ "China Eastern, AVIC I launch Joy Air | Launch of Joy Air | in Depth | en.AvBuyer.com.cn". Archived from the original on 2008-10-07. Retrieved 2008-04-01.
  2. ^ "China Eastern, AVIC I launch Joy Air | ATWOnline". Archived from the original on 2012-03-26. Retrieved 2011-01-22.
  3. ^ "幸福航空主运营基地机场将由天津变更至西安-中国民航网". www.caacnews.com.cn. Retrieved 2022-06-17.
  4. ^ "Joy Airline to China,Joy Airlines from China - China Travel Depot". Archived from the original on 2019-09-07. Retrieved 2011-01-22.
  5. ^ "Joy Air Airline Profile | CAPA". centreforaviation.com. Retrieved 16 April 2021.
  6. ^ "(unknown title)". Airliner World. January 2015. p. 17.
  7. ^ "Global Airline Guide 2019 (Part One)". Airliner World (October 2019): 11.
  8. ^ "民航西北局检查指导幸福航空服务质量工作".
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