Colorful Guizhou Airlines: The Small Airline Linking Guizhou to the Rest of China

History and positioning

The idea behind the airline is simple: Guizhou, a landlocked mountainous province historically less connected than China's coastal regions, needed a dedicated carrier to guarantee sufficient frequencies to the rest of the country. Colorful Guizhou Airlines began flying in December 2015, a few months after the company was formally established.

The fleet

The fleet is compact, under twenty narrowbodies, sized to the needs of the local market rather than national ambitions.

Routes and network

From its base at Guiyang Longdongbao, the network serves about 55 destinations, almost all domestic, with only one or two international routes: it works more as a feeder link between the cities of Guizhou and China's big hubs than as a stand-alone network.

Colorful Guizhou Airlines is useful if you need to reach a smaller city in Guizhou poorly served by the big national airlines. It is not the right choice for international travelers: the network beyond China is virtually nonexistent. The practical tip is to book through one of the main Chinese online agencies such as Ctrip or Qunar, rather than expecting customer support in English: it is a regional airline with very limited international infrastructure.