| Airline: | Qingdao Airlines |
| Iata: | QW |
| Icao: | QDA |
| Callsign: | SKY LEGEND |
| Bases: | Qingdao Jiaodong International Airport |
| Fleet Size: | 40 |
| Destinations: | 24 |
| Parent: | Nanshan Group |
| Headquarters: | Chengyang, Qingdao, Shandong, China |
| Key People: | Song Zuowen (President) |
| Order: | st |
| T: | 青島航空 |
| P: | Qīngdǎo hángkōng |
Qingdao Airlines is a Chinese airline that commenced operations on 26 April 2014. The carrier is based at Qingdao Jiaodong International Airport.
An application for the establishment of an airline based in the Shandong province was filed with the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) by the Yantai-based Nanshan Group in May 2013. Approval was received by the CAAC between that month and June 2013, when Qingdao Airlines was formed.
Initially, the airline was owned by the Nanshan Group (55%), the Qingdao Transport Development Group (QTDG) (25%) and Shandong Airlines (20%). The initial capital of Qingdao Airlines was CNY1 billion (USD161 million). In July 2015, Shandong Airlines transferred its shares to a subsidiary of the Nanshan Group;, the airline plans to sell the 25% of the shares held by QTDG in order to become fully private. Since November 2015, Qingdao Airlines was fully owned by Nanshan Group.[1]
, Song Zuowen was the president of the airline.
The airline's headquarters are in Chengyang District, Qingdao.[2]
Operations started on 26 April 2014 linking Qingdao with Chengdu., the airline top five routes ranked by seat capacity were Qingdao–Shanghai, Qingdao–Beijing, Qingdao–Hangzhou, Qingdao–Shenyang and Qingdao–Dalian., Qingdao Airlines served the following destinations:[3]
, Qingdao Airlines operates to the following destinations:
The airline originally aimed to become a ″boutique airline″ and had plans to start services to Shenzhen and Shenyang in the near future; Guangzhou and Shanghai were expected to be served in the longer term.
, Qingdao Airlines fleet consists of the following aircraft:[13]
| Aircraft | In service | Orders | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Airbus A320-200 | 14 | 0 | |
| Airbus A320neo | 23 | 0 | |
| Airbus A321neo | 3 | 0 | |
| Total | 40 | 0 |
In September 2013, an order for Airbus A320s and 18 A320neos was placed in a deal valued at USD2.5 billion. The carrier phased in its first aircraft, a 152-seater Airbus A320, in early April 2014. The carrier took ownership of its first two A320neos in October 2018. Qingdao Airlines planned to expand its fleet to 60 aircraft by 2020.