Air China Limited is abbreviated as "Air China". Its predecessor, the original Air China, was founded in 1988. On September 30th, 2004, Air China Limited was founded in Beijing with total registered assets of 6.5 billion RMB and the paid-up capital of 9.433 billion RMB. On December 15th, 2004, Air China listed stocks appeared successfully in Hong Kong (stock code 0753) and London (trading code AIRC).

The enterprise logo of Air China is an artistic Phoenix. The Chinese version of Air China was calligraphed by Mr. Deng Xiaoping. The English translation of the company name is "AIR CHINA". The enterprise mission is "meet the requirements of customers, create mutual values".

Air China is the only airline company which flies with the national flag. The headquarters of Air China are located in Beijing, and it also has several branch companies such as Southwest, Zhejiang, Chongqing, Inner Mongolia, Tianjin, Shanghai, Guizhou, Tibet and Hua’nan base. Air China owns 237 Boeing and Airbus planes and flies to 27 countries and districts, among which there are 42 international cities and 85 domestic cities. There are 925 scheduled flights every day.

Air China has a strong domestic and international route and sales network. In recent years it has strengthened several regional hubs such as the Southwest with the centre of Chengdu, Eastern China with the centre of Shanghai, Southern China with the centre of Guangzhou. In order to strengthen the market sales and make the sales channel more flexible, at present Air China has made electronic tickets and online sales businesses available in many domestic cities, which can offer customers convenient and fast ticket purchasing service.

Air China has an extensive, high quality clientele. Over 71% of the guests who take Air China flights are business and commercial passengers. By the end of Q1, 2009, the total members of the Frequent Passengers Club of Air China reached 9.07 million. In the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, Air China was the formal airline partner and successfully fulfilled its responsibility.