China: Domestic travel boom brings rush of start-up airlines, jet orders

China's appetite for planes and pilots is building up, whetted by a slew of new airlines launched in the last three years as local governments, private firms and larger carriers fight for a share of the country's fast-growing domestic travel market. More than 10 Chinese carriers have begun flying since Beijing's aviation regulator relaxed a six-year suspension on new airlines licences in 2013. They now operate or have ordered at least 100 jets made by Airbus Group, Boeing and Embraer. Such breakneck expansion might give cause for alarm in mature aviation markets. But China's new breed of carrier is focusing on second and third-tier Chinese cities that have gleaming, newly built airports that helped stoke an 8.2% rise in domestic China passenger traffic in 2015, according to the IATA. While state carriers like Air China, China Eastern Airlines and China Southern Airlines dominate for now, the newcomers have deep-pocketed backers like conglomerate HNA Group, plus support from local authorities as well as Air China itself. "By 2020 we want to have 40-50 planes," said Lan Yu, brand manager at Guangxi Beibu Gulf Airlines, a newcomer set up by the government of southwestern Guangxi province and Tianjin Airlines in 2015. Tianjin Airlines is a unit of HNA, an aviation and shipping giant.<br/>