Fangda outbid Juneyao and Fosun for Hainan Airlines and flew it back to profit

Hainan Airlines entered 2021 as the sickest asset of HNA Group, the conglomerate whose $50 billion acquisition spree reached Deutsche Bank and Hilton before collapsing under debt. Its 2020 annual loss of 64 billion yuan ($9.9 billion) was the largest ever reported by a listed Chinese company, and in January 2021 creditors asked the Hainan High People's Court to put it through bankruptcy.

The court-run restructuring auctioned control of the crown-jewel airline, while the infrastructure arm went to Hainan Development Holdings. In September 2021 Liaoning Fangda Group, a private conglomerate rooted in carbon, steel and pharmaceuticals, beat Juneyao Group and Fosun International for the airline. After the court finalized the plan on October 31, control formally transferred in December 2021, when Gu Gang's government taskforce handed over management as well as equity.

The bet paid off faster than expected. Despite pandemic curbs, the airline swung back to profitability in 2021, and by the first nine months of 2025 it led all listed Chinese carriers with CNY2.8 billion of net profit on CNY53.4 billion of revenue, overtaking budget favorite Spring Airlines.

Back in profit in 2021; by late 2025 the most profitable listed Chinese carrier, with CNY2.8B of nine-month net profit on CNY53.4B revenue

The airline's operations were sound: the collapse was a group-level debt problem, so the buyer was getting a working fleet of roughly 600 aircraft, not a broken operator.

Fangda's carbon, steel and pharma businesses throw off cash, letting it fund the capital injection outright rather than layer leverage on a heavily indebted carrier.

The court-run sale forced the founders out completely — management was handed over with the shares — so the new owner could impose its own cost culture immediately.

It also caught a tailwind: China's aviation market recovered after the pandemic years, and by 2024 the industry itself was profitable again.

When creditors and a court pick the new owner, an operator beats a financier: Fangda won the airline because it committed to run it as an industrial business, not to flip it or fold it into a rival.

Fangda installed its own managers and its hard-charging industrial cost culture while keeping the brand and the Haikou base. The carrier stayed profitable through the slow 2022-2024 traffic recovery, and in November 2025 Yicai reported it had overtaken Spring Airlines as China's most profitable listed carrier for the first three quarters, with net profit up 31% year on year. HNA's leftover shell continues winding down under the taskforce.