China Eastern inks agreement with Henan government

China Eastern Airlines signed a strategic cooperation framework agreement with the Henan provincial government under which it agreed to launch more international routes from Henan's capital Zhengzhou, boost flight frequencies of domestic routes to/from Zhengzhou and start air shuttle service between Zhengzhou and Shanghai. It earlier launched a daily Zhengzhou-Shanghai-Kuala Lumpur routing aboard an A320 and plans to start Zhengzhou-Shanghai-Nagoya service later this year. Henan lies in the middle part of China.

Air China subsidiary Shenzhen Airlines also signed a strategic cooperation agreement with the Henan provincial government. According to that accord, signed in March, Shenzhen regional subsidiary Kunpeng Airlines changed its name to Henan Airlines and transferred its operating base from Xi'an to Zhengzhou. Shenzhen is still the controlling stakeholder of the new entity.