CHINA Eastern, one of China's big three air carriers, is raising as much as US$2.2 billion from a sale of shares to help fund purchases of aircraft and engines as the company expands its fleet to meet surging demand for air travel, reports Bloomberg.
The state-owned airline proposes to sell as many as 1.62 billion shares to mainland investors including the Juneyao Group, collecting CNY11.8 billion (US$1.8 billion) and a further placement of up to HK$3.55 billion (US$452 million) of stock in Hong Kong, according to a filing to the Shanghai Stock Exchange.
Chinese carriers have been adding new routes and destinations to serve an aviation market the International Air Transport Association (IATA) estimates will surpass the US. as the world's biggest by as early as 2022.
They had a combined fleet of about 3,200 planes at the end of 2017, compared with a little less than 2,000 five years earlier, according to data from the Civil Aviation Administration of China.
The state-owned airline proposes to sell as many as 1.62 billion shares to mainland investors including the Juneyao Group, collecting CNY11.8 billion (US$1.8 billion) and a further placement of up to HK$3.55 billion (US$452 million) of stock in Hong Kong, according to a filing to the Shanghai Stock Exchange.
Chinese carriers have been adding new routes and destinations to serve an aviation market the International Air Transport Association (IATA) estimates will surpass the US. as the world's biggest by as early as 2022.
They had a combined fleet of about 3,200 planes at the end of 2017, compared with a little less than 2,000 five years earlier, according to data from the Civil Aviation Administration of China.