15 new passenger airlines to launch in China. Though small in size, they will rattle the status quo

China in the next year could see about a 50% increase in its number of passenger airlines. There are 15 known airlines that either plan to launch or have launched in recent months. This rapid growth comes as China loosens restrictions on new carriers that have been in place since mid last decade. These new carriers join about 10 airlines launching in other parts of Asia in 2014. Whereas those 10 airlines outside of China are exclusively low-cost carriers, almost all of China's new carriers will be full-service - at least initially.

There is a wave of LCC interest in China accompanied by some regulatory liberalisation, such as on minimum fare pricing. Yet there are more policies that need to be loosened or streamlined, and then upheld in practice. While there is large growth in the number of airlines, their size will be small. Recently-launched Loong Airlines has about 12,000 weekly domestic seats compared to China Southern's 1.7 million. But there will be impacts in the specific markets these new airlines operate in. Their ultimate, long-term potential with a new business model or one free of legacy weight is the larger worry for the country's incumbents, including the behemoths, which are among the world's 10 largest airlines. China's major airlines have been publicly quiet on this market re-ordering but are closely watching it, and planning their own response.