Airline History Blog - YESTERDAY'S AIRLINES

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Green Leads the Trend: China Eastern's Xi'an Specials

5/5/2016

China Eastern loves special liveries and no matter your thoughts on their plain new scheme you can be sure a significant number of the fleet will be wearing much brighter colours. China as a growing world economic power has been keen to highlight its progress in recent years and in 2011 hosted the International Horticultural Exposition, which gave China Eastern the opportunity to paint three members of its fleet in support of the event.

Shanghai's Mad Dog Freighters: MD-11s in China

23/9/2015

The MD-11 as a passenger aircraft was not a wild success. Failing initially to meet performance guarantees and suffering a poor safety record for a modern aircraft the type nevertheless provided China Eastern's first grounding in long-haul operations and has excelled globally as a freighter. Less than ten aircraft were operated by Chinese airlines but they operated for over 20 years as both passengers and cargo haulers, more than proving the worth of the last of the tri-jets.

All Change @ China Eastern: New Brand, New 777s

9/9/2015

November 2014 was a milestone in the history of China Eastern Airlines. The Shanghai based airline is the second largest in China and eight largest in the world in terms of available seats however the big three Chinese airlines are renowned for their conservatism and none had previously altered their liveries in the 25 plus years since they split from the old CAAC. Still the new identity is definitely evolutionary rather than revolutionary.

Sharklet 320s Pt2: China Eastern

23/5/2015

For many years China looked as though it would tempt foreign airframe manufacturers with suggestions of co-production only to pull back at the last minute. Certainly McDonnell Douglas found out the hard way how difficult it was creating a lasting partnership. Airbus however has had much greater success and nowadays Chinese assembled A320s make up an increasing portion of the domestic fleet.

4 Engines 4 Long Haul Pt1: Chinese A340-300s

12/5/2015

China has purchased most of the major widebody airliners over the past 30 years including Airbuses' groundbreaking quad - the A340-300. Eleven of the type were spread across 3 operators and got in over a decade of service.

Yunnan Feathers Pt2: China Eastern 767-300s

6/5/2015

China Yunnan Airlines fleet was built around the 737-300 however a trio of Rolls-Royce powered 767s were delivered from July 1996 to January 1997, no doubt for trunk services like Kunming-Beijing. They looked very nice in the green and gold of China Yunnan however they weren't to last as six years later, in 2003, China Yunan was swallowed by China Eastern and the 767s would find themselves trading the feather for the swallow.

Yunnan Feathers Pt1: China Eastern 737-800s

5/5/2015

Yunnan is a mountainous province in the Southwest of China bordering Vietnam, Laos and Burma. It had a population of 45.7 million in 2009 and its capital city is Kunming. From this important regional city China Yunnan Airlines was setup in 1992 and though it was merged into China Eastern in 2002 the Yunnan province's aircraft haven't lost their independent identity...

MD-80s of the Dragon: License Assembled Super 80s in China

24/2/2015

CAAC's fleet during the 1980s was an odd mix of vintage and modern types ranging from IL-14s to Tridents to A310s. One of the new types that was chosen for replacement of the short-medium haul HS Trident 2s and Ilyushin IL-18s was the McDonnell Douglas MD-80. In fact the MD-82/83 was the first western type to be license constructed in China, when in 1987 the first of 35 aircraft were assembled by the Shanghai Aviation Industrial Corporation. This initial success would no doubt help lead McDonnell Douglas down the ill-fated MD-90 Trunkliner path they followed, however despite the Trunkliner's failure and though eclipsed in the 1990s by Boeing 737s, and later A320s, the MD-80 would continue to be a major component of the fleet of several Chinese airlines into the 2000s.

China Eastern's 90s Renewal: A300s and the last Mad Dogs

4/2/2015

China Eastern (MU) emerged in June 1988 from the Shanghai regional bureau of the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) which had operated all air services within China since its formation in 1954. China Eastern was one of the six state-owned children of CAAC but as with its Beijing and Guangzhou based siblings Air China and China Southern it held a distinct advantage over the other three airlines due to its hub location. The fleet of CAAC was split between its progenitors with China Eastern acquiring 5 A310s, 3 BAE 146s, 5 MD-80s, 3 Shorts 360s and several AN-24s and Y-7 turboprops. Re-equipment was on the cards though in the form of a mixed fleet of Airbus A300s, McDonnell Douglas MD-11s and Fokker 100s.