The Airline: Xiamen Airlines

Xiamen Airlines is the first privately owned airline in the People's Republic of China. Established on July 25, 1984 and based in Xiamen, it operates scheduled passenger flights out of Xiamen Gaoqi International Airport and, to a lesser extent, Fuzhou Changle International Airport. The Airline is owned by China Southern Airlines (60%) and Xiamen Construction and Development Group (40%).

In December 2005, Xiamen Airlines inked an order for 10 Boeing 737-800 aircraft to be equipped with blended winglets, which were delivered between 2006 and 2008. This order was part of a larger 70 plane purchase agreement between CASGC and Boeing, which was signed during a state visit of then US President George W. Bush.

Initially the parent company China Southern Airlines planned to shift three Boeing 787 Dreamliners of an order for 13 to Xiamen Airlines, but this plan was dropped in 2006 in favor of more 737-800s.But on May 2011, Xiamen Airlines has been resumed to order 6 Boeing 787-8.

On June 8, 2011, Xiamen confirmed intentions to join SkyTeam Alliance. This move strengthens the alliance's position within Asia. The airline plans to join as early 2012.

On November 17, 2011, SkyTeam formally accepted the joining of Xiamen Airlines into the alliance. Xiamen Airlines begins the joining process leading to full entry into SkyTeam by the end of 2012, further strengthening the alliance offer in the southeast China region.

Chinese description below:


廈門航空（简称：厦航，IATA代号：MF，ICAO代号：CXA）是一家总部位于中國厦门的航空公司，在福州、杭州、南昌和天津设有分公司。厦门航空成立於1984年7月25日，是中国首家以企业化自主运营的航空公司，现股东为中国南方航空股份有限公司（占51%股权）和厦门建发集团有限公司（占34%股权）河北航空投資集團有限公司（占15%股权）。厦航现任总经理为原南航北京分公司总经理车尚轮。

厦门航空以廈門高崎國際机場和福州长乐国际机场为运营基地，在其140多条航线上每周提供超過450班航班服务，主要飞航城市分佈东亚及东南亚和东北亚城市。厦门航空的徽标为“蓝天白鹭”，是中国驰名商标，其常旅客计划为厦航白鹭卡。航线特色是机上广播除了采用普通话和英语外，也使用闽南话进行播音，并会在一些航班上提供有闽南特色的工夫茶。

2011年6月，廈門航空申請加入天合聯盟的決議獲聯盟全體成員一致通過，並於同年11月17日在意大利羅馬正式簽署加入天合聯盟意向書；預計廈航將於2012年以南航的附屬成員身份加入聯盟。