(Yicai) Oct. 9 -- China Eastern Airlines has appointed Wang Zhiqing, a high-ranking State Council official, as its new chairman, a role left vacant for more than a year.

The Shanghai-based carrier announced Wang’s appointment at a management meeting this morning. Wang, the cabinet’s deputy secretary-general, takes the reins from General Manager Li Yangmin who headed up the carrier after Liu Shaoyong retired as chairman in July 2022.

Wang is a former deputy director of the Civil Aviation Administration of China and transport vice minister. He became deputy secretary-general of the State Council in 2021. 

China Eastern is the first airline to fly the C919, the country’s self-developed large passenger aircraft. After placing its first order for five planes in 2021, the firm signed up for 100 more from developer Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China on Sept. 28, making it COMAC’s biggest order to date.

China Eastern has more than 800 aircraft, it said, but more than 200 narrow-body planes will be phased out from next year to 2031, so capacity needs to be replenished to meet future demand, per the company’s plan. 

Editors: Shi Yi, Emmi Laine