Air China launched a 2 billion yuan worth of short-term bond issue on Wednesday, which is the airline's first deal of 2016.

The super short-term bonds have a maturity of 180 days, with an annualized interest rate of 2.65 percent.

Air China's issue is the first tranche out of a 10 billion yuan approval it has received to issue short-term bonds with a tenure no longer than 270 days over a two year period.