China Northwest Airlines Co., Ltd. (中国西北航空公司) was a Chinese airline headquartered in

Xi'an Xi'an is the list of capitals in China, capital of the Chinese province of Shaanxi. A sub-provincial city on the Guanzhong plain, the city is the third-most populous city in Western China after Chongqing and Chengdu, as well as the most populou ...

Shaanxi Shaanxi is a Provinces of China, province in north Northwestern China. It borders the province-level divisions of Inner Mongolia to the north; Shanxi and Henan to the east; Hubei, Chongqing, and Sichuan to the south; and Gansu and Ningxia to t ...

People's Republic of China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

. It started operations in 1989. In 2002, the airline, along with China Yunnan Airlines, merged into

China Eastern Airlines China Eastern Airlines (branded as China Eastern) is a major airline in China, headquartered in Changning, Shanghai, Changning, Shanghai. It is one of the three major airlines in the country, along with Air China and China Southern Airlines. ...

History

In 1988, the

State Council State Council may refer to: Government * State Council of the People's Republic of China, the national cabinet and chief administrative authority of China, headed by the Premier * State Council of the Republic of Korea, the national cabinet of S ...

decided to split

CAAC CAAC or Caac may refer to: * Civil Aviation Administration of China The Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC; ) is the civil aviation authority of the People's Republic of China, under the Ministry of Transport of the People's Republic ...

into six separate airlines, of which China Northwest was one of them. The airline was based in

. It operated mostly domestic routes but also a handful of international flights to Japan. In 1996, the airline acquired 80% of Nanjing Airlines. In October 2000, China Northwest Airlines and

Shandong Airlines Shandong Airlines Co., Ltd. (; nicknamed SDA or ) is an airline based in the Shandong Airlines Center () in Jinan, Shandong. The Chinese carrier operates a sizable domestic network from Jinan, Qingdao and Yantai to major cities across China, toge ...

initialed a letter of intent for a joint merger, however, this was not approved by the

Civil Aviation Administration of China The Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC; ) is the civil aviation authority of the People's Republic of China, under the Ministry of Transport of the People's Republic of China, Ministry of Transport. It oversees civil aviation and inv ...

. By then the airline was making a loss, and was later acquired by

in 2002. After the acquisition the airline was renamed China Eastern Xi Bei.

Destinations

The following is a incomplete list of destinations served by China Northwest Airlines:

Fleet

Final fleet

At the time that China Northwest merged into China Eastern, the airline's fleet consisted of the following aircraft:

Fleet history

Throughout the airline's history, the airline had operated:

Incidents and accidents

*On July 23, 1993, Flight 2119 crashed while attempting to take off at Yinchuan Xihuayuan Airport,

Ningxia Ningxia, officially the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, is an autonomous region in Northwestern China. Formerly a province, Ningxia was incorporated into Gansu in 1954 but was later separated from Gansu in 1958 and reconstituted as an autonomous ...

, killing 54 passengers and 1 crew member on board. *On June 6, 1994, Flight 2303 broke apart and crashed while flying between Xi'an and

Guangzhou Guangzhou, Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Canton or Kwangchow, is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Guangdong Provinces of China, province in South China, southern China. Located on the Pearl River about nor ...

, killing all 160 people on board. This remains the deadliest aviation accident to occur in mainland China.

References

External links

* {{Transport in China Defunct airlines of China Airlines established in 1989 Airlines disestablished in 2002 Chinese companies established in 1989 Chinese companies disestablished in 2002 1989 in Xi'an