Tianjin Airlines (Chinese: 天津航空; pinyin: Tiānjīn Hángkōng — formerly Grand China Express Air) is a Chinese airline headquartered in Tianjin Binhai International Airport passenger terminal building, Dongli District, Tianjin,[4] operating domestic scheduled passenger and cargo flights out of Tianjin Binhai International Airport.[5]
Grand China Air was established in 2004 in an effort to merge the major aviation assets of Hainan Airlines, China Xinhua Airlines, Changan Airlines and Shanxi Airlines, and received its operating licence from the Civil Aviation Administration of China in 2007.[6] Scheduled flights were launched under the brand name Grand China Express Air, using 29-32 seat Fairchild Dornier 328JET aircraft. At that time, the company was China's largest regional airline, operating on 78 routes linking 54 cities. On June 10, 2009, the airline's name was changed to Tianjin Airlines.[7] As of August 2011, 63 destinations are served (excluding those operated on behalf of Hainan Airlines),[8] though by 2012, the airline intends to fly on more than 450 routes linking at least 90 cities, taking more than 90% of the domestic regional aviation market.[9]
In mid-2015, Tianjin Airlines signed a contract for 22 Embraer aircraft (20Embraer 195s and 2 Embraer 190-E2s). It is part of a larger agreement made in 2014 for 40 aircraft, the remaining 18 to be approved by the Chinese authorities. The first Embraer 195 will be delivered later in 2015 and the first Embraer 190-E2 in 2018.[10]
The airline plans to launch international long-haul services and is to take delivery of its first Airbus A330 aircraft in 2016 to serve destinations in Europe, North America and southeast Asia.[11]
Tianjin Airlines is a major player in the regional airline markets of Xinjiang and Inner Mongolia, known for shuttling passengers between the regional capitals to various feeder airports.
On June 29, 2012, there was an attempted hijacking of Tianjin Airlines Flight 7554, an Embraer ERJ-190, by six ethnic Uyghur men. Passengers and crew overpowered the hijackers. The aircraft returned to Hotan at 12:45 pm, where 11 passengers and crew and two hijackers were treated for injuries. Two hijackers died of injuries they sustained during the fight on the aircraft. This marked the first serious hijacking attempt in China since 1990.[24]
^Zhang, Shaohu (张少虎). 天津航空更换呼号 "神龙"退休"渤海"上岗 - 中国在线. chinadaily.com.cn (in Chinese (China)). Archived from the original on March 27, 2018. Retrieved March 27, 2018.
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