An airline fined in China for violating rules that limit discounts

A budget airline in China was fined 150,000 yuan ($20,000) for violating rules that limit discounts on government-set ticket prices.

Spring Airlines, set up last year by travel agent China Spring International, sold more than 400 tickets on a new route between Shanghai and the northern city of Jinan for just 1 yuan ($0.13), the Beijing Times reported.

Spring’s Jinan Spring Holiday Travel Agency sold 400 tickets on flights between Shanghai and the eastern city of Jinan for 1 yuan. They accounted for 10 percent of seats on Spring’s flights from November 30 to December 10. A regular one-way ticket on that route costs 910 yuan ($116; €88), including taxes. As per the information available, the sale was against a 2004 rule — designed to help carriers’ bottom lines after a vicious price war — that the maximum discount an airline can offer is 45 percent off a government-set base price, the report added.

It also stated that the case underscores the difficulty facing Chinese low-cost airlines, which are trying to model themselves on the likes of Ireland’s Ryanair in bringing cheap no-frills travel to the world’s most populous nation.