FLYING STORIES

In the early 1990s, Wang began selling fares for major airlines. He learned about the costs and margins, enabling him to start the charter flights through his Chunqiu travel agency in 1997.

He once sent all the residents of a village in the eastern province of Jiangsu on a holiday to the southern island province of Hainan.

At the time, Chunqiu travel agency chartered aircraft from all the Chinese carriers, offering about 30,000 flights a year.

Wang saw clearly that high air fares stopped most ordinary people from flying.

"I started to present regular reports - 'Flying stories of ordinary people' - to the civil aviation authorities. Story telling is a magic way to express yourself and gain support," he says.

DELAY TROUBLES

But after becoming the first private airline in China in 2004, the first six years were "painful" .

"Chinese people were unused to low-cost flights, and often prejudiced."

Some passengers were sometimes furious the airline offered no free meals or drinks, or they had to pay for checked luggage.

Even worse were flight delays: "After a delay due to a rainstorm, some passengers lay down at the gate and others on the runway," he recalls.

That incident triggered delays of another four flights. More than 700 passengers were stranded and a total of 2,000 passengers were affected.

"I was so depressed by such incidents. All these things were covered in the air fare contract."

However, he is confident his low-cost airline is changing people's lives.

"Chunqiu and I are creating a business to realize that dream - a safe and affordable flight for massive common Chinese at least once in a lifetime."