Richard Liu’s JD.com to become China’s first e-commerce company with its own airline

Chinese e-commerce giant JD.com, owned by billionaire Richard Liu Qiangdong, is on track to become the country’s first e-commerce player with its own air cargo fleet. The East China bureau of the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC), the authority in charge of civil flights, has given preliminary approval for the establishment of Jiangsu Jingdong, according to an announcement by the authority on Tuesday. The air cargo unit will be a joint venture between the e-commerce giant and Nantong Airport Group, with the e-commerce giant contributing 75% of the starting capital. Nantong is located in eastern China’s Jiangsu province, also the home province of JD.com founder Liu, who was born and raised in Suqian, a city in the northern part of the province. The joint venture will become the first cargo airline in China funded by an e-commerce platform and the country’s third private cargo airline after SF Express and YTO Express. JD Logistics, JD.com’s logistics arm which raised US$3.2b in May when it went public in Hong Kong, has yet to announce a detailed investment plan for the fleet. <br/>