Premium – Hainan Airlines fleet review

Hainan is the largest privately owned Chinese airline and the fourth largest Chinese airline in terms of fleet size.  The company is only 23 years old, yet has accomplished several “firsts”. Hainan introduced the 737-800 to China and the Asian market.  It was the first Chinese airline to win a 4-Star rating with Skytrax.  It has subsequently been awarded a 5-Star rating.  Today there is news the airline is preparing to invest $4.2Bn in its fleet by adding 19 more aircraft.  No models were announced.

The airline’s fleet history reflects its rapid growth.  As we can see 2006 was a pivotal year.  In 2007 the airline disposed of its fleet of 328 jets.  It also disposed of nine A319s and started to reduce its 737 Classic fleet as it took delivery of more 737 NGs.  Another important year was 2008 when the first A340-600s arrived.  But the A340-600 proved to be a short affair, as by 2013 they were gone.  Hainan acquired its first A330-200 in 2007, but the A330 fleet swung to the -300 model from 2010.  We also note that the first 787s were the -8 model.  In 2016 the fleet had ten -8s and eight -9s.  There has been some evolution around the 250-300 seat segment as the airline tried to figure out what it needed and what the optimal fleet would be.