Chinese airline to start selling cars — yes cars — on board

Passengers aboard China’s Spring Airlines Co., the nation’s biggest privately-owned carrier, may soon be able to buy cosmetics, jewelry…and cars.

The airline plans to start selling Chinese-branded automobiles priced from about 100,000 yuan ($16,000) by as early as next month, Zhang Wu’An, a spokesman at the Shanghai-based company, said in an interview yesterday. Spring Air is still in talks over details such as which brands and models to offer, Zhang said, declining to give details.

“We wanted to start in-flight sales a few years ago, and decided cars are suitable for our passengers,” Zhang said. “Car sales are very popular in Shanghai and our passengers can have time during their flight to study details of the models available.”

Car sales on flights will initially be available on flights from Shanghai and could be introduced to other flights, Zhang said. Flight attendants will be trained on the car details, while passengers may be eligible for discounts, he said.

–Alexandra Ho, with assistance from Jasmine Wang in Hong Kong. Editors: Young-Sam Cho, Suresh Seshadri

To contact Bloomberg News staff for this story: Alexandra Ho in Shanghai at aho113@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Young-Sam Cho at ycho2@bloomberg.net