Shanghai-based Spring Airlines plans to order 30 A320s and expand its fleet to 100 aircraft by 2015, according to Chairman Wang Zhenghua who added that the low cost carrier is awaiting regulatory approval for the order.
Spring currently operates eight A320s on a network covering some 30 cities across the country. It expects its fleet to number 30 by 2010 and increase to 100 by 2015, at which point half the fleet will be leased and half owned.
"Owing to our fleet expansion plan, our financial pressure is quite heavy and we hope to solve our financing problems by getting listed in Hong Kong," Wang added. Spring has hired Citibank as its financial adviser and expects to raise RMB1 billion (US$142.9 million) through an IPO now expected to occur in December 2009. Th e carrier transported 689,000 passengers in the first quarter with an average load factor of 94.3 per cent.