China Eastern Yunnan Airlines Retires Its CRJ Fleet
By Echo Zhang, China Aviation Daily | Apr. 03, 2013
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On Mar. 30, a China Eastern Yunnan Airlines' CRJ200 aircraft, registration B-3021, performing flight from Liuzhou to Kunming landed safely at Kunming Changshui International Airport (KMG), which marks the end of the aircraft's nearly 12-year service in the airline.
In 2000, owing to the gradual opening of domestic aviation market and increasingly-developed tourism in Yunnan province, introducing regional jets was regarded as a crucial strategy of China Yunnan Airlines, which was merged into China Eastern Airlines (MU) in 2003, to improve its fleet structure, route network, as well as service quality and market competitiveness. At the beginning of 2001, China Yunnan Airlines signed a contract with Canadian Bombardier for purchasing 6 CRJ-200 aircraft at the cost of US$192 million, and the first CRJ-200 was delivered to the airline on Nov. 20, 2001.
Earlier in the preliminary operation stage, to meet the demands of travelers to and from Yunnan Province and offer more convenient and efficient services, the airline had used CRJ jets as "air bus" to operate thrice-daily flights in the morning, afternoon, and evening across cities in the province like Baoshan, Lincang, Zhaotong, as well as cities in the neighborhood including Chengdu, Xi'an and Wuhan.
The CRJ aircraft had been on the spotlight in Yunnan aviation market due to its comfort and colorful livery. Besides, the airline figured out that the rate of flight regularity, daily utilization rate and passenger satisfaction rate of CRJ operation all achieved their desired goals. Moreover, the airline has established its regional route network in Yunnan and launched more new routes to Chongqing, Shijiazhuang, Tianjin, Shantou and Fuzhou by using the CRJ aircraft, which saw a stable load factor of over 80%.
Encouraged by the great success in the domestic market, the airline explored more chances on international routes. In 2002 and 2003, the airline successively opened Kunming-Mandalay, and Kunming-Rangoon routes, which were both operated by the CRJ planes. Through the 12 years, the airline's CRJ fleet has flew across China and Southeast Asia countries and accumulated over 40 million flight hours.
China Eastern Yunnan Company, a joint venture airline set up with the Yunnan provincial government based on assets of China Eastern's previous branch company in Yunnan, began operation in Aug. 2011. After the retirement of the meritorious CRJ aircraft, China Eastern Yunnan Airlines will further strengthen its fleet construction to pave the way for a stronger fleet.