Chinese airline Air Changan has applied to the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) to begin flying overseas.

The carrier, which is majority owned by HNA Group, operates from its main base at Xi’an Xianyang International Airport in the Shaanxi Province.

A filing published by the CAAC said the airline wants to expand its business scope from domestic air passenger and cargo transportation to include international flights to neighbouring countries.

China’s aviation authority is inviting interested parties to submit written comments on the application before 24 October 2019.

According to OAG Schedules Analyser, Air Changan operates 51 routes with 69,646 available weekly seats. A total of 26 of its routes are from Xi’an.

The airline currently deploys the most weekly capacity on services from Xi’an to Haikou Meilan, Yichang Sanxia and Sanya, each of which are operated twice daily.

Air Changan is the ninth largest airline by weekly departure seat capacity at Xi’an, OAG data shows. The full service carrier, which has a fleet of 11 Boeing 737-800 aircraft, has a 3.45 percent capacity share of all available seats from the airport.

Air Changan's network (w/c 14 October, source: OAG Mapper):

Image credit: Air Changan