Zhejiang Loong Airlines firms up order for 20 Airbus A320 Family aircraft, starts operations in China

Zhejiang Loong Airlines (Loongair) (Hangzhou), based in the capital city of Zhejiang province in Eastern China, has signed its first purchase agreement with Airbus, for 20 A320 Family aircraft, including 11 A320ceo and nine A320neo, becoming the lastest Airbus customer. The agreement follows the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) signed in September at the Beijing Airshow.

On December 16, 2013 at 2:00 pm (1400) local time the first Airbus A320 (B-9962 above) arrived in the rain at Hangzhou Xiaoshan International Airport (see below) and despite the rain received a water cannon salute. A second leased A320 (A320-214 B-6858, msn 5008) arrived on December 22, 2013.

The airline commenced scheduled passenger operations on December 26, 2013 with the two A320s.

The new airline is flying from Hangzhou to Chengdu , Xi’an, Xiamen, Shenzhen, Guangzhou, Wuhan, Kunming, Chongqing, Changsha and Changchun. The airline plans to expand to Hong Kong, Macao, Taipei and in Southeast Asia (please see route map below).

In the first half of 2014, Loongair’s fleet is expected to reach nine aircraft, including six passenger aircraft and three freighters.

Top Copyright Photo: Airbus/Iihutao (all others by the new airline). The airline is operating as Loongair. The pictured Airbus A320-214 B-9962 (msn 5656) was leased from Capital Airlines on December 11, 2013.