CAAC Airlines
CAAC Airlines (), formerly the People's Aviation Company of China (中國人民航空公司), was the airline division of the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) and the monopoly civil airline in the People's Republic of China. It was founded on July 17, 1952, and merged into CAAC on June 9, 1953. In 1988, the monopoly was broken up and CAAC Airlines was split into six regional airlines, which later consolidated into China's Big Three airlines: Beijing-based Air China, Guangzhou-based China Southern Airlines, and Shanghai-based China Eastern Airlines. In 1962, CAAC began operating international services, initially  to other countries in the communist bloc such as the Soviet Union, Mongolia, North Korea, Laos, Burma, Bangladesh, North Vietnam, and Cambodia. By the mid-1980s, CAAC had long-haul service to the United States, Europe, the Middle East, and Australia, mainly using American Boeing aircraft, while continuing to use Soviet aircraft on routes to Eastern Europe. Separation. In 1988, CAAC Airlines split into six separate airlines, each named after the geographic region of their main operating areas: CAAC used the IATA code CA on international flights only; domestic flights were not prefixed with the airline code. CAAC's aircraft livery  featured the Chinese national flag on the vertical stabilizer, with blue stripes and Chinese version of CAAC logo (designed by Lu Shifang in 1965, with the calligraphy of Premier Zhou Enlai) on a white fuselage. Fleet. CAAC Airlines consisted of the following aircraft: