GX Airlines (GX, Nanning) will venture into the international market this year having postponed previous plans for a 2016 debut.

Airline sources told the Xinhua News Agency in an interview that initial operations will cover Nanning to key leisure destinations in Vietnam, Cambodia, and Thailand. Thereafter, additional routes to other ASEAN nations will be considered.

Launched almost two years ago, GX Airlines is a 70/30 joint venture between Tianjin Airlines (GS, Tianjin) and the Beibu Gulf Investment Group.

It currently operates ten E190s and three A320-200s on scheduled passenger flights to forty-four destinations across China. Last year, its annual passenger throughout exceeded 1.5 million. In line with the Chinese Communist Party's national 13th Five-Year Plan, GX Airlines aims to operate a fleet of fifty aircraft by the end fo 2020.