China's first private airline allowed to resume operations

SHANGHAI, Jan. 23 (Chinese media) -- China's first private airline, Okay Airways, will begin resuming passenger services on Saturday after being suspended from operating for seven weeks.

Services on seven domestic routes would start from Jan. 24 to 31 and all flights scheduled for the winter and spring would begin on Feb. 1, the airline's main shareholder, Shanghai-based Junyao Group, said Friday.

Tickets and reservations were available through sales agents, said Junyao spokesman Wang Zhong.

The routes will link Tianjin to Harbin, Kunming, Sanya, Chengdu and other cities across China.

"We'll try our best to restore operations to normal," Wang said.

The company announced the plan after the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) approved its flight resumption application, just ahead of the Lunar New Year peak travel period.

The administration said in a statement on its website: "CAAC's north China bureau examined Okay's application and operation plan according to relative aviation service regulations, and Okay Airways has met conditions for resuming services."

Okay Airways suspended passenger services on Dec. 6, nine days ahead of the deadline for suspension set by the CAAC.

The suspension came after some airports, worried about the airline's financial troubles, would only refuel its planes for cash. More than 2,000 stranded passengers at the airline's base in the northern city of Tianjin and at other airports had to be transferred to other flights.

Management problems and a lack of capital support from Junyao had been cited as factors in the suspension.

Okay Airways became China's first private carrier in 2005. Junyao Group, through the Beijing Transport Energy Shareholding Co., owns 63 percent of the airline.

The company has 11 aircraft and about 800 employees. It ran about 20 domestic passenger routes.

Okay Airway's cargo service has been operating as scheduled.