China Eastern Yunnan Airlines - a joint venture of China Eastern Airlines (CEA), and the Yunnan provincial government, began operating on Aug 2 in Kunming.

The cooperation agreement was signed in 2009, with CEA - the nation's third largest airlines - holding 65 percent of the company's equity. The rest is with the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of Yunnan Provincial People's Government.

"China Eastern Yunnan Airlines seeks to expand business in connecting Southeast Asia and South Asia," says Ma Xulun, general manager of CEA.

The airlines will fly to more than 70 destinations, both at home and abroad. It offers more than 600 flight routes from all the 12 of the province's airports, plus several in Southeast Asia and South Asia.

"As a regional air hub, Kunming New Airport is expected to be in operation by the end of 2011 and will be China's fourth largest regional air hub. This will increase the passenger traffic on China Eastern Yunnan Airlines," Ma says.

In the next five years, the airlines hopes to achieve annual passenger growth of 19 percent, to reach 17 million. It is also aiming for the volume of cargo and mail transport to reach 162 thousand tons, an annual increase of 12 percent.

The company is accelerating the expansion of its wide-body fleet that comprises a variety of 40 aircrafts including Airbus A330-300, Boeing 737-700, Boeing 737-300 and Crj-200. The fleet's capacity is expected to double by 2015.