China's HNA Group and Boeing will work together to improve maintenance on the Boeing 737NG, according to local reports.

The OEM will help the Chinese conglomerate build a one-stop aircraft maintenance base, sending technical staff to analyze data and train HNA engineers and mechanics, HNA says. The partners hope to improve the safety of HNA's huge 737NG fleet and to reduce maintenance costs per flying hour. 

HNA executive chairman Gu Gang also hopes to cooperate with OEMs on maintaining other aircraft and to build his home base in Hainan province into an international aviation hub. Boeing’s vice-president for China, Gao Sixiang, says his company will discuss more opportunities to partner with HNA.

HNA’s aviation division owns a number of Chinese Airlines, including Air Chang'an, Beijing Capital Airlines, Fuzhou Airlines, Grand China Air, GX Airlines, Hainan Airlines, Lucky Air, Suparna Airlines, Tianjin Airlines, Urumqi Air and West Air. Taken together, these and other HNA airlines fly nearly 300 Boeing aircraft.

By mid-January 2021, domestic daily flights in China, the sort most commonly flown by narrowbodies, stood about 19% below January’s 2020 pre-virus levels, according to Radarbox.

IBA is forecasting Chinese GDP will grow almost 8% in 2021, further boosting both passenger and cargo traffic, and that air traffic across the Asia-Pacific region will recover strongly this year.

The HNA Group has long had an intense interest in aircraft maintenance, having acquired 80% of SR Technics in 2016. However, the Group has been under financial stress in recent years and has offloaded several assets.

Hainan is the smallest and southernmost province of China, including several islands in the South China Sea. A maintenance base on the province’s main island could be well-positioned to support carriers in both southern China and the Southeast Asian nations of Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand and Laos.