Xiamen Airlines seeks to become a nationwide carrier in China, and with a global presence

Xiamen Airlines is growing well outside its namesake home city of Xiamen and greater Fujian province. Xiamen has a sizeable presence in eastern and western Chinese cities, and expects its Oct-2014 announcement of acquiring Hebei Airlines to boost its position in the vital Beijing market in the longer term.

Xiamen is China's sixth largest carrier in Dec-2014, behind the three state-owned carriers, Hainan Airlines and Shenzhen Airlines. It has 111 aircraft including two 787-8s from an order of six it expects to use on token long-haul routes. But Xiamen remains focused on the domestic market, seeing long-haul routes, especially from secondary cities, as risky.

A downturn in traffic saw Xiamen Airlines miss its goal of exceeding 20 million passengers in 2013, but Xiamen should be able to achieve this target in 2014.