China's top budget carrier caps new plane orders

Shanghai

AS many airlines across Asia join a rush to expand their fleets by ordering hundreds of jets, China's top budget carrier is putting a pause to its new plane orders and said it will instead focus on operations.

After signing an agreement in December with Airbus Group SE for 60 A320 aircraft, Spring Airlines Co said that it has enough planes to grow its capacity by a targeted 15 per cent to 20 per cent annually. The operator isn't likely to buy more in the "foreseeable years to come", chairman Wang Zhenghua said in Shanghai on Friday.