China's first private airline suspends passenger service

BEIJING, Dec. 6 (Chinese media) -- China's first private airline, OK Air, suspended passenger service on Saturday, 10 days ahead of schedule as a result of financial and management problems, according to a spokesman of Junyao Group, a major shareholder of OK Air.

Since planes could not be fuelled and passengers could not get normal boarding service, more than 10 flight routes were suspended.

Several hundred passengers stranded at the Tianjin Airport, a major hub for the carrier, had to be transferred to other airports.

The carrier started operation in March 2005. It ran 20-plus domestic passenger routes serving the cities of Tianjin, Changsha,Hefei, Kunming, Harbin, Hangzhou, Haikou and Sanya.

Cargo service was still running as usual, the reports said.