Air China's Hubei branch will see the departure of its first flight on June 25 at Wuhan Tianhe Airport.

Wuhan will be the second Chinese city, after Beijing, to have branches of all three of the largest state-owned airlines.

The new airline has employed hundreds of staff from the former East Star Airlines including pilots, aircrew, ground staff, and administrative personnel.

There will be three new flights in addition to the original Wuhan-Beijing and Wuhan-Chengdu routes. The Wuhan-Shenzhen flight will take off every day at 9:00, the Wuhan-Guangzhou flight will depart at 14:10, and the Wuhan-Hangzhou flight will leave the airport at 19:15. All the flights will be operated using Airbus A320 aircraft.

By 2010, 15 large aircraft will be based in Wuhan; and by 2015, the number will be 30, with dozens of international direct and stopover flights to destinations such as Paris, Tokyo, Los Angeles, London, and Berlin.

(China Hospitality News June 22, 2009)