HNA's China West Air to become a low-cost carrier – the catalyst for a LCC boom in China?

China's privately-owned HNA Group, parent of Hainan Airlines, intends to transform its subsidiary China West Air into a low-cost carrier. The carrier, based in Chongqing on China's western frontier, has dabbled with branding itself as a LCC but now intends to make the commitment and change its structure to support its operation as a LCC.

Of wider significance than its transformation will be its spillover impact, as West Air becomes the catalyst for other carriers in the expansive HNA Group to gradually adopt the LCC model. The pressure on other Chinese carriers to respond will inevitably increase. With time and more growth, this may create the early stages of the long awaited Chinese LCC boom, in one of Asian aviation's '"final frontiers".

The nature of the mooted transformation changes will be closely watched. Spring Airlines, the country's only other genuine LCC, does not charge for checked luggage, which is typically the biggest ancillary revenue earner for LCCs. Although Spring would like to charge for checked luggage, it knows it would face market resistance. On the whole China, does not yet have ideal circumstances for LCCs, but things are changing.

What Spring Airlines has demonstrated is that the country does wants efficient airlines that are well priced and on time, not lazy legacy operations. As the movement grows China West may join Spring in evolving new forms of stripped-down LCCs.