Air China Air China Limited is abbreviated as "Air China" and its predecessor, the old Air China, was founded in 1988. According to "Civil Aviation System Reform Program" approved and passed by the State Department, in October 2002, the old Air China combined China National Aviation Company and China Southwest Airlines and founded China Aviation Group Company. Based on the joint air transport resources of the three parties, the new Air China Company was founded. On September 30th, 2004, approved by the state-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of State Council (SASAC) as the main air transport company controlled by China Aviation Group, Air China Limited was founded in Beijing in due form, with 23,000 employees, registered capital of RMB 6.5 billion and the paid-up capital of RMB 9.433 billion. On December 15th, 2004, Air China successfully listed in Hong Kong (HKEx: 0753 and London (trading code: AIRC). With excellent profitability, Air China has made profits for seven consecutive years since 2001, which is the leading position in China's civil aviation industry. Air China is the only airline company which carries the national flag. It became a member of Star Alliance in December 2007 and it is also the airline partner of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games. It has the first rank of brand value among domestic airline companies (the world brand laboratory evaluated it RMB 23.523 billion in 2007) and it leads domestic counterparts in passenger and freight air transport and related services. It is known to all that Air China takes the responsibility of special plane task for Chinese national leaders visiting abroad, and foreign leaders and governmental leaders visiting China, which demonstrates the exclusive status as the national flag carrier. With the headquarters located in Beijing, Air China has several branch companies such as Southwest, Zhejiang Province, Chongqing, Inner Mongolia, Tianjin, Guizhou Province, Tibet and bases in Shanghai and Southern China. It also owns a project technology branch, a business plane branch, Aircraft Maintenance & Engineering Corporation (Ameco Beijing), China International Freight Transport Airline Co. Ltd. and Beijing Air Food Company. Air China also holds shares of Shenzhen Airline and Cathay Pacific Airline. It is the biggest stockholder of Shangdong Aviation Group Co. Ltd., and controlled Macao Airline Co. Ltd. until the end of March 2008. Air China owns 224 Boeing and Airbus planes operates 243 routes covering 28 countries and districts, among which there are 69 international routes, 6 regional routes and 168 domestic routes. It provides more than 6.000 weekly flights and offers 1 million seats. By traveling with Air China, passengers can easily reach 81 domestic destinations and 42 international and regional destinations through its strong and balanced global route network with Beijing as the major hub. Air China has successfully established cooperative partnership with 20 well-known airlines globally. On December 12th 2007, Air China formally joined Star Alliance, the world's largest airline alliance, which further expands its service to 897 destinations in 160 countries and enables it to offer passengers more convenience and benefits. Air China home page：http://www.airchina.com