I want to fly from Xi'an to Taiyuan, and the airline with the time I would like to leave is Grand China Express. I have never heard anything at all about them. I have read comments on other domestic airlines, but nothing on this one......

Anyone flown them? Heard of them? Comments please?

First time I heard of them, but it's a new regional subsidiary of Hainan Airlines, China's 4th largest airline. They fly the Dornier 328 regional jet, as well as new Embraer ERJ-145 that are assembled in China.

Rkkwan - Thank you so much.

Would you fly them? They only just showed up today on the eLong flight options for this route. My first choice is now gone - I was originally looking at November 3. I may now fly out on the the evening of the 2nd.

Yes, I would. I have no information why they'd any more safe or unsafe than other Chinese airlines, which overall have a very good safety record in the past 5-6 years.

Just came upon some photos of the Hainan Dornier 328JETs:

http://www.hkitalk.net/HKiTalk2/view...php?tid=242663

It's a trip report on a shorthaul flight. But it's the same airline, same aircraft type. [Ingore the first few photos of the 738, or the Haikou airport.]

Thanks again rkkwan.

In the end I booked on China Southern, even though some posters weren't very complimentary. It's only 70 minutes of air time, and I really wanted two full days in Xi'an, so China Southern it is.

I don't yet have the timing down as to when to purchase air tickets at the best price. Hainan was 460 RMB, but they sold out overnight, which left China Southern at 660 RMB. I bought those, and now they have the same flight on Ctrip for 460 RMB. It's not a lot of money, it was just the game of it!

I booked with eLong right before their site went down - and that was three days ago. It's still down (for flights anyways)....