Tianjin Airlines (formerly Grand China Express Air) is an airline headquartered in Tianjin Binhai International Airport passenger terminal building, Dongli District, Tianjin, China. It operates domestic scheduled passenger and cargo flights out of Tianjin Binhai International Airport.
Grand China Air was established in 2004 in an effort to merge the major aviation assets of Hainan Airlines, China Xinhua Airlines, Chang An Airlines and Shanxi Airlines, and received its operating licence from the Civil Aviation Administration of China in 2007. Scheduled flights were launched under the brand name Grand China Express Air, using 29-32 seat Fairchild Dornier 328JET aircraft. At that time, the company was China's largest regional airline, operating on 78 routes linking 54 cities.
On 10 June 2009, the airline's name was changed to Tianjin Airlines. As of August 2011, 63 destinations are served (excluding those operated on behalf of Hainan Airlines), though by 2012, the airline served 450 routes linking at least 90 cities, taking more than 90% of the domestic regional aviation market.
In mid-2015, Tianjin Airlines signed a contract for 22 Embraer aircraft (20 Embraer 195s and 2 Embraer 190-E2s). It is part of a larger agreement made in 2014 for 40 aircraft, the remaining 18 to be approved by the Chinese authorities. The first Embraer 195 will be delivered later in 2015 and the first Embraer 190-E2 in 2018.
The airline plans to launch international long-haul services and is to take delivery of its first Airbus A330 aircraft in 2016 to serve destinations in Europe, North America and southeast Asia.
In 2016, Tianjin Airlines launched long-haul services to Auckland in New Zealand, London-Gatwick in the UK and Moscow-Sheremetyevo in Russia. Long-haul services to Melbourne are to begin from October 2017.
Livery
Airbus A330-243, registration B-8659, built 2016, serial number 1758 Xiamen Gaoqi International Airport (XMN), Xiamen, China, 31 October 2019
