Initially, the airline was owned by the Nanshan Group (55%), the Qingdao Transport Development Group (QTDG) (25%) and
Shandong Airlines (20%). The initial capital of Qingdao Airlines was
CNY1 billion (USD161 million).[4] In July 2015, Shandong Airlines transferred its shares to a subsidiary of the Nanshan Group; as of August 2015[update], the airline plans to sell the 25% of the shares held by QTDG in order to become fully private.[5] Since November 2015, Qingdao Airlines was fully owned by Nanshan Group.[6]
Operations started on 26 April 2014 (2014-04-26) linking
Qingdao with
Chengdu.[4] As of May 2014[update], the airline's top five routes ranked by seat capacity were Qingdao–Shanghai, Qingdao–Beijing, Qingdao–Hangzhou, Qingdao–Shenyang and Qingdao–Dalian.[9] As of October 2016[update], Qingdao Airlines served the following destinations:[10]
Qingdao Airlines operates to the following destinations (as of June 2024):[citation needed]
The airline originally aimed to become a ″boutique airline″ and had plans to start services to
Shenzhen and
Shenyang in the near future;
Guangzhou and
Shanghai were expected to be served in the longer term.[4]
Fleet
As of May 2023[update], Qingdao Airlines fleet consists of the following aircraft:[16]
In September 2013, an order for five
Airbus A320s and 18
A320neos was placed in a deal valued at
USD2.5 billion.[17] The carrier phased in its first aircraft, a 152-seater Airbus A320, in early April 2014.[18][19] The carrier took ownership of its first two
A320neos in October 2018.[20] Qingdao Airlines planned to expand its fleet to 60 aircraft by 2020.[5]