China National Aviation Corporation

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CNAC Logo, taken from CNAC Zhejiang Branch aircraft, which was merged with Air China.

The China National Aviation Corporation (中國航空公司;, abbrev 中航; CNAC) was a major airline in the Republic of China and currently an aviation holdings company in the People's Republic of China that owns a majority of Air China.

It was established in 1929 as China Airways by Curtiss-Wright, under the leadership of U.S. airline magnate Clement Keys. In 1933, after a series of disastrous accidents and disagreements with Chinese leader Chiang Kai-shek, Keys sold the company to Pan American Airways, under the control of Keys' arch-rival Juan Trippe. Pan Am placed CNAC under the control of banker and aviator Harold Bixby.

CNAC eventually operated routes from Shanghai to Beijing (Peking), Chongqing (Chungking), and Guangzhou (Canton), using Douglas DC-2 and DC-3 aircraft. It ceased operations following the Communist revolution of 1949 when Civil Aviation Administration of China took over to become the sole airline of China. However, CNAC remains a subsidiary of CAAC and incorporated in Hong Kong.

In the 1980s, CNAC acted as the overseas ticket agency of CAAC. CNAC launched its own airline, CNAC Zhejiang, in Hangzhou with Bombardier Dash 8 aircraft and later Airbus A320 and A319 aircraft, with the same logo painted on the aircraft's tails as in 1929. CNAC merged into Air China along with China Southwest Airlines in 2004 when the CAAC decided to consolidate the nine major state-owned airlines into three groups. The new Air China is in turned owned by the China National Aviation Holdings (CNAH) Company and is listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange (code 1110).

[edit] References

[[1]]China National Aviation Corporation. Official site for CNAC Association, a club formed in remembrance of the US staff who worked in the Republic of China-era CNAC.