The Formation of Hainan Airlines: The Inside Story of How the Pre-Body of HNA Group Came to Be

Abstract

This report attempts to describe in as much detail as possible the key people involved in - and the events leading up to - the formation of Hainan Provincial Airlines in the late eighties and early nineties. It sheds light on how the chairman of HNA Group, Chen Feng, came to be in Hainan and shows that, far from being the visionary entrepreneur he portrays himself as, Chen rode on the coattails of others who were pursuing a World Bank loan project that was originally offered to Wang Qishan. The report is the result of fieldwork conducted in 2016 and 2017 and is primarily based upon interviews that the contributing researcher held with individuals in Beijing and Hainan who were close to the matters described. The researcher was also granted access to previously unreleased correspondence material between key individuals during the time of these events.