Hainan Airlines Group board chairman Chen Feng said Friday that the group has plans for more overseas acquisitions and is just at the beginning of its internationalization process, Chen told reporters at a news conference on the sidelines of the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China. "There are a lot of Chinese people visiting Europe, and Paris is a big transportation hub there," Chen said. "We want to enter the market and the only way is through mergers."
HNA Group announced last month it had acquired a 48% stake in French airline Aigle Azur, the only airlines in Europe still open to all offers are CSA and LOT, neither would give high quality CDG route access.
Right now HNA remains in negotiation with Airbus over that Hong Kong Airlines A380 order cancellation.
The HNA Group is on course for close to $16bn of revenues for this fiscal and is targeting 6 to 10 times that amount over the next decade.
HNA Group continues to target aviation expansion due to the collapse of the shipping industry which is, in Chen’s words: "upside down and too miserable to look at".
Hainan Airlines Group looks for further European access
