Hainan Air Group is the largest privately owned airline group and the fourth largest airline measured by fleet size in China. Grand China Air and Hainan Airlines are both flagship airlines within the HNA Group. The airline was established in 1989 as Hainan Province Airlines. During the past decade an NICG company has worked very closely with the airline as it evolved from a local to a national and then international airline. The services and consultancy provided covered the full range of marketing and communications tasks. Also brand positioning has been achieved with sports and arts sponsorship. There has been close collaboration to gain the airline group international service standard awards so positioning Grand China Air as the customer satisfaction leader amongst airlines in China. In 2007 four airlines were brought within the HNA Group (Hainan Airlines Group). The airlines were Hainan Airlines, Shanxi Airlines, Chang’an Airlines, and China Xinhua Airlines. Grand China Airlines is being developed as a prestige international airline carrier. The famous international investor, George Soros, has an 18.6% share in Grand China Air.
