Spring Airlines (9C, Shanghai Hongqiao) parent, China Spring Group, has announced it has signed a strategic cooperation agreement with Chinese online retail giant, Alibaba Group.

According to a press release, the partnership will see the two sides cooperate in developing ticket sales, destination marketability, loyalty programmes, IT and data storage, and payment/transactions facilities among others.

"Through our partnership with Alibaba Group, the two sides will develop in-depth cooperation in their respective areas of expertise and play to their strengths to the advantage of online consumers as well as the aviation and hospitality industries at large," China Spring Chairman Wang Zhenghua said during the signing ceremony.

Aside from Chinese LCC Spring Airlines and its Spring Airlines Japan sister carrier, Spring Group also has interests in tourism, hotels, and investment. For its part, Alibaba Group is China's largest online commerce company with interests in online retail, online payment facilities, and cloud computing services among other areas.