Jiangxi Airlines, a joint venture between Xiamen Airlines and the Jiangxi provincial government, officially commenced operations with its first revenue flight taking off from Nanchang Changbei International Airport to Urumqi Diwopu International Airport at 8:50 a.m. on Friday.

More than 100 passengers took the airline's inaugural flight from Nanchang to Urumuqi with a stopover in Xi'an. They received special gifts and souvenirs from Jiangxi Airlines. 

The Nanchang-based carrier gained its AOC on Jan. 8 and was cleared to take off by the Civil Aviation Administration of China on Jan. 28.

It has received two 737-800s, with the third one to join its fleet in late March. The airline said it expects to operate five aircraft by the end of 2016 and expand its fleet to 20 aircraft by 2020.

Jiangxi Airlines will fly the Boeing 737 aircraft on domestic routes from Nanchang to Xi'an, Urumqi, Guiyang and Xiamen.