Harbin-Based LJ Air Cleared to Take Off

By Lena Ge, China Aviation Daily

Longjiang Airlines (LJ Air), the first local carrier in Northeast China's Heilongjiang Province, has filed an application for an air operator's certificate (AOC) from the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC), paving the way for it to launch its maiden flight. The aviation watchdog already completed preliminary review of the start-up's application, according to a statement released on the CAAC's website on June 29.

According to the statement, LJ Air is licensed for domestic cargo and passenger transportation businesses out of Harbin Taiping International Airport, using Airbus A320 aircraft. The new entity is a limited company with Liang Fuhua, ex-vice president of Big White Bear Jet Co., Ltd. as chairman and Zhang Yuming as its legal representative.

The airline has been approved by the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) to purchase two Airbus A321 aircraft and take another A320 on operating lease.

The start-up carrier welcomed its first aircraft on April 21, 2016, a 212-seat Airbus A321.

Meanwhile, LJ Air said on its official website, it also plans to purchase 20 A320 family aircraft from Airbus directly, which will be delivered before 2020.

The Harbin-based carrier plans to operate four domestic routes initially, including Harbin-Xi'an-Chengdu, Harbin-Yiwu-Nanning, Harbin-Guangzhou-Shenzhen and Harbin-Beijing.

Aiming to establishing a regional route network covering the whole Heilongjiang Province, LJ Air will fly to nearly twenty cities including Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen, before launching international services to destinations in Russia, Korea and Japan. Besides, the startup carrier has an ambition to expand its network to Europe and the U.S.

The airline company has signed an agency agreement on ground services with Helongjiang Airport Group, and the Northeast Regional Air Traffic Management Bureau has agreed to provide civil aviation communication, meteorology and flight information for the airline. In addition, the bureau assigned 132.000 MHZ as its management channel frequency.

The Air Traffic Management Bureau of CAAC assigned "SNG" code and "SNOW EAGLE" as English radio call sign for the airline and it will employ "LT" code and "867" code for accounting.

Meanwhile, LJ Air has recruited 20 pilots, 23 maintenance staff, 8 flight dispatchers, 12 flight attendants, 7 welders and 15 safety personnel for the initial operation.
Approved by the aviation watchdog in July 2014, LJ Air is funded by a top gold and jewelry shop in Harbin with a registered capital of 800 million yuan.

The CAAC has begun soliciting submissions on Jiangxi Airlines and said that the approval would be granted unless it was informed of reasonable grounds to reconsider the plan before April 15, 2016.