Air Travel (airline)
Air Travel is a Chinese airline operating domestic flights from its hub at Changsha Huanghua International Airport in Hunan Province. The airline launched operations in May 2016 as Hongtu Airlines and rebranded its English name to "Air Travel" in 2018. The airline moved to Hunan from Yunnan in 2020.
History
Air Travel, originally named Hongtu Airlines, received preliminary approval from the Civil Aviation Administration of China on 26 March 2015. In October 2015, the airline's livery was revealed. The red color represents the famous red earth of Dongchuan District in Yunnan Province; in fact, Hongtu in the airline's name, is a transliteration of l=red soil.On 22 December 2015, Hongtu Airlines took delivery of its first aircraft, an Airbus A321 originally destined for UTair Aviation. The aircraft is named Dai after the Dai people, an ethnic minority in Yunnan Province. Hongtu Airlines held an inauguration ceremony on 20 May 2016 and began flights the following day, with the inaugural flight operating between Kunming and Nanchang.
The airline underwent a branding change in 2018: its English name became Air Travel, whilst retaining the name l=red soil airline in Chinese. The company then changed its local name to Hunan Airlines in 2021 following its move to Hunan Province, but retained the name 'Air Travel' in English.