Suparna Airlines, known in Chinese as Jinpeng (Chinese: 金鹏航空; pinyin: Jīnpéng Hángkōng), is an airline based in China. Originally an all-cargo airline, it was formerly known as Yangtze River Express and later Yangtze River Airlines after launching passenger services. The company's headquarters are in Shanghai Pudong Development Bank Tower (Chinese: 浦发大厦; pinyin: Pǔ fā dà shà) in Pudong, Shanghai.[1]
| |||||||
| Founded | 15 January 2003 | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hubs | Shanghai Pudong International Airport | ||||||
| Fleet size | 25 | ||||||
| Destinations | 8 | ||||||
| Parent company | Hainan Airlines | ||||||
| Headquarters | Shanghai, China | ||||||
| Website | www | ||||||
History
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Established on 15 January 2003 as the second cargo airline in the country after China Cargo Airlines,[2] Yangtze River Express was majority owned by the HNA Group (85%) with Hainan Airlines Co (5%) and Shanghai Airport Group (10%) holding the remaining shares. The airline took over the entire cargo operations of Hainan Airlines, China Xinhua Airlines, Chang An Airlines and Shanxi Airlines, all members of the Hainan Air Group.
In 2006, it divested 49% of its shareholdings to a consortium of companies including China Airlines, Yang Ming Marine Transport Corporation, Wan Hai Lines and China Container Express Lines. China Airlines became the largest foreign shareholder, with a 25% stake.
The airline rebranded as Suparna Airlines on 7 July 2017; its new name comes from the mythical bird also known as a garuda.[3] Suparna means “the one with the beautiful wings” in Sanskrit.
Destinations
edit- Cargo
Yangtze River Express applied for permission to serve Novosibirsk in Russia as well as Dallas–Fort Worth and Los Angeles in the United States from 2009, pending CAAC approval. They also serve some domestic and Asian routes. From 2010, round trip flights to and from Shanghai, Tianjin Binhai, Prague, Luxembourg, Shanghai, and Rotterdam have been operated. As of 2014, there are also Frankfurt Hahn, Tianjin-Binhai, and Shanghai-Pudong connections. In December 2023 airline launched operations to Moscow Oblast, Russia.[4]
- Passenger
On 15 December 2015, Yangtze River Airlines launched domestic passenger flights under its revised name. Routes initially included Shanghai-Pudong Airport to Guyang, Sanya and Zhuhai using a single Boeing 737-800. Permission was also granted for flights to Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan.[5]
Fleet
editCurrent fleet
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As of August 2024[update], Suparna Airlines operates the following aircraft:[6][7]
| Aircraft | In fleet | Orders | Passengers | Notes | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| C | Y+ | Y | Total | |||||||
| Boeing 737-800 | 9 | — | — | — | 189 | 189 | ||||
| Comac C919 | — | 30 | TBA | TBA | TBA | TBA | ||||
| Cargo fleet | ||||||||||
| Boeing 737-300F | 9 | — | Cargo | |||||||
| Boeing 737-400F | 1 | — | Cargo | |||||||
| Boeing 747-400BDSF | 2 | — | Cargo | |||||||
| Boeing 747-400ERF | 1 | — | Cargo | |||||||
| Total | 22 | 30 | ||||||||
Former fleet
edit| Aircraft | Total | Introduced | Retired | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Boeing 787-8 | 1 | 2017 | 2018 | Returned to Hainan Airlines. |
| Boeing 787-9 | 2 | 2019 | 2022 | B-208C stored at PEK. |
References
edit- ^ "Yangtze River Express Airlines Company Limited Archived 2016-05-02 at the Wayback Machine." HNA Group. Retrieved on February 24, 2014. "Address: Pufa Tower, 588 Pudong South Road, Pudong New Area, Shanghai" - Address in Chinese Archived 2014-03-01 at the Wayback Machine: "地址：上海市浦东新区浦东南路588号浦发大厦 邮编：200120"
- ^ "Country's Second All-cargo Airline Takes off". en.people.cn.
- ^ "China's Yangtze River Airlines rebrands as Suparna Airlines". ch-aviation. 10 July 2017. Retrieved 17 July 2017.
- ^ "Suparna Airlines launches scheduled Nanjing-Zhukovsky-Chengdu cargo service". centreforaviation.com. News for Airlines, Airports and the Aviation Industry | CAPA. 4 December 2023. Retrieved 5 December 2023.
- ^ "China's Yangtze River Express to start pax ops this month". ch-aviation.
- ^ "Global Airline Guide 2019 (Part One)". Airliner World. October 2019: 11.
- ^ "Suparna Airlines Fleet | Airfleets aviation". www.airfleets.net.
External links
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- Official website (in Chinese)
- Hainan Airlines (in English)
