China mulls applications from three firms to run budget airlines - UPDATE.

(From Xinhua Financial News - China Focus)

(Updating to add comments from CAAC air transport division director Li Jiangmin on companies involved) BEIJING (AFX-ASIA) - Two private companies and one tourist agency have applied to run budget airlines in China and the feasibility of their plans are now being studied, the head of the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) Yang Yuanyuan told a news briefing this morning. Li Jiangmin, the director general of CAAC's Air Transport Department, later told AFX-Asia that one of the companies is a Shanghai-based tour operator and that the other two companies were joint ventures, one with foreign involvement.

He …