9 Air receives preliminary approval for air operator's certificate

CAAC stated (23-Oct-2014) its CAAC Southwest Regional Administration has completed preliminary review of 9 Air's application for its air operator's certificate. Based at Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport, 9 Air is permitted to operate domestic passenger and cargo transportation services. According to the CAAC statement, the airline will have a total investment of CNY600 million (USD93.8 million). Juneyao Airlines will be the controlling stakeholder with a 78.9% stake with an investment of CNY473.4 million (USD74.0 million) in cash; Elion Resources Group will invest CNY90 million (USD14.1 million) for a 15% stake, while president Ji Guangping will hold a 6% stake with an investment of CNY36 million (USD5.6 million), with the remaining 0.1 percent owned by Macrolink Group. The airline has been approved by the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) to lease three Boeing 737-800 aircraft as well as to purchase two A320 aircraft from Juneyao Airlines and lease them back to the latter. The airline has also signed an agency agreement on ground services with Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport Co Ltd and the Southwest Regional Air Traffic Management Bureau has agreed to provide civil aviation communication, meteorology and flight information for the airline. In addition, the CAAC Southwest Regional Administration assigned 131.65 MHZ as its management channel frequency. The Air Traffic Management Bureau of CAAC assigned "JYH" code and "TRANSJADE" as English radio call sign for the airline, and it will employ "AQ" code and "902" code for accounting. The start-up airline has been approved to introduce 27 pilots, eight maintenance staff, eight flight dispatchers, eight cabin crew, six welders and three safety personnel from Juneyao Airlines for the initial operation. Moreover, the airline has employed 57 maintenance staff, nine cabin crew and two safety personnel. [more - original PR - Chinese]