Shanghai Airlines

Shanghai Airlines
上海航空公司
*Shànghǎi Hángkōng Gōngsì*
	File:Shanghai Airlines logo.gif
Founded	1985
Hubs	Shanghai Pudong International Airport; Shanghai Hongqiao International Airport
Focus cities	Nanjing Lukou International Airport; Hangzhou Xiaoshan International Airport
Alliance	Star Alliance (Joining December 12)
Fleet size	53
Destinations	66 (5 to start in 2008/09)
Headquarters	Shanghai, China
Key people	Zhou Chi (President); Fan Hongxi (CEO)
Website	http://www.shanghai-air.com

Shanghai Airlines (上海航空) is an airline based in Shanghai, People's Republic of China. It operates domestic and international services. Its main bases are Shanghai Pudong International Airport and Shanghai Hongqiao International Airport ^[1].

History

The airline was established and started operations in 1985. It was founded by the Shanghai municipal government as the first independently run local airline in China. It was initially restricted to domestic flights, but in September 1997 won government approval to operate international services. In October 2002 it began to issue shares on the Shanghai stock market. It launched domestic freighter services in May 2004 ^[1]. It is the fifth largest airline of China by fleet size. In 2006 a cargo airline, Shanghai Airlines Cargo, was established with Taiwan-based EVA Air ^{[citation needed]} In its 22 year history, Shanghai Airlines has not any accidents, nor either any severe damage to its aircraft, therefore, making it one of the safest airlines in Asia and possibly, the World. [1]

Shanghai Airlines CEO Fan Hongxi says that Shanghai Airlines expects to have a fleet of 100 aircraft by 2010 that can handle 17.7 million passengers and 1.5 million tons of cargo and mail annually. It is also focusing on growing its market share in Australia, Europe, the United States and Canada in the next five years. ^[2]

Destinations

Shanghai Airlines has applied for service to its first two destinations in North America, which are Seattle, Washington and Los Angeles, California. It also applied for its first three European destinations which are Vienna, Hamburg and Zurich.

In 2005, the airline launched codeshare flights with Lufthansa to Germany from Shanghai.
In 2006, the airline signed an agreement to begin codeshare flights with United Airlines between China and the United States.
Also in 2006, Shanghai Airlines signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Thai Airways International which includes codesharing flights and reciprocating frequent flyer program benefits for members.
Shanghai Airlines becomes an airline partner of Air New Zealand Airpoints from November 7,2006.
On 1 July 2007 Shanghai Airlines commenced codeshare flights with Air New Zealand^[3].
On 10 May 2006 it was announced that Shanghai Airlines will become the 19th member of Star Alliance. It is scheduled to join the Star Alliance at 12 December 2007.

Fleet

Shanghai Airlines operates the following aircraft as of November 2007:^[4]

**Shanghai Airlines Fleet**
Aircraft	Total	Notes
Airbus A321-200	(10 orders)
Boeing 737-700	4
Boeing 737-800	21
Boeing 757-200	11
Boeing 767-300	4
Boeing 767-300ER	3
Boeing 787-8	(9 orders)	Entry into service: 2008
Bombardier CRJ-200	5
ARJ21^{^[5]}	(5 orders)	Entry into service: 2009

Shanghai Airlines was the carrier of the last ever Boeing 757-200 delivered (B-2876). Shanghai Airlines has a Hawker 800XP as a business jet.