The General Administration of Civil Aviation of China (CAAC) has approved the Dongxing Group Co. Ltd in Hubei Province to build a private air company, the group's president Lan Shili said. 

It was the fourth private air company that the CAAC, China's air service regulator, has so far approved.

The new private air company, the Dongxing Air Service Co. Ltd, will have a registered capital of 80 million yuan (about 9.64 million US dollars), which will be borne by the Dongxing International Travel Service Co. Ltd., Meijing Tourism Investment Co. Ltd. and Dongsheng Property Co. Ltd., according to Wang Yankun,who will take charge of the preparatory work of the new air company.

The new air company will be headquartered at the Tianhe International Airport in Huangpi District of Wuhan, capital of central China's Hubei Province. It will mainly operate domestic air freight services, Wang said.

It will take a year to complete the preparatory work, said Wang, who disclosed that they plan to lease or buy three to five air planes from Airbus or Boeing. 

(CRIENGLISH.com June 21, 2004)