Air China was founded in 1988. According to the Civil Aviation System Reform Program approved by the State Department in October 2002, Air China combined China National Aviation Company and China Southwest Airlines to form China Aviation Group Company. On September 30, 2004, Air China Limited was founded in Beijing by combining the resources of these three companies and was approved by the national assets supervision committee of the State Department as the main air transport company controlled by China Aviation Group. Air China Limited began with 23,000 employees, registered assets of 6.5 billion RMB and paid-up capital of 9.433 billion RMB. On December 15, 2004, Air China successfully listed stock on the Hong Kong exchange (trading code 0753) and the London exchange (trading code AIRC).

The enterprise logo of Air China is the Phoenix. The Chinese version of the words Air China on the logo was written by Mr. Deng Xiaoping. The Phoenix is a divine bird in the Chinese legend and has been adored by the Chinese people since ancient times. According to the record in Shan Hai Jing, the Phoenix is born in an oriental country called Junzi and flies across the great Kunlun Mountain and over all of the oceans. Wherever she flies, she brings luck and peace. The color of the logo is the traditional Chinese red which implies luckiness, roundness, auspiciousness, happiness. It expresses Air Chinas sincere passion of serving the society and the endless pursuit of the safety. Air China strives to be an airline with an international reputation by being recognized by international passengers, being a valuable airline in China, having strong profit earnings and being competitive in the world. The enterprise culture of Air China emphasizes meeting the needs of customers, looking to the future with innovation, and providing a high level of service.

Air China is the only airline company which carries the national flag. It is ranked first in brand value among domestic airline companies (the world brand laboratory evaluated it in 2006 as 18.896 billion RMB), and it is among the leading companies in air passenger transport and freight transport. Air China is responsible for flying Chinese national leaders to their destinations and bringing foreign leaders and governmental leaders to China. The headquarter of Air China is located in Beijing with several branch companies such as Southwest, Zhejiang, Chongqing, Inner Mongolia, Tianjin, Guizhou, and Tibet. Air China also has a Shanghai and Huanan base. Air China owns a project technology branch company, a business plane branch company, Ameco, China International Freight Transport Airline Co. Ltd. and Beijing Air Food Company. Air China has equity in Shenzhen Airline and Cathay Pacific Airline and is the biggest stockholder of Shangdong Aviation Group Co. Ltd. Air China controlled Macao Airline Co. Ltd. until December 2005. Air China owns 176 Boeing and Airbus planes and flies to 22 countries and districts, among which there are 36 international cities and 70 domestic cities. There are 4,160 periodical flights per week.

Air China has a strong domestic and international route and sales network, with the main hub in Beijing. In recent years, Air China has strengthened several of its regional hubs in Chengdu, Shanghai and Guangzhou. In order to strengthen the international route network, Air China has attached great importance on cooperating with foreign airlines and has signed a code sharing agreement with 11 domestic and foreign airlines. (Lufthansa, Austrian Airlines, Scandinavian Airlines, Finnair, Turkish Airlines, United Airlines, ANA, Dragonair, Macao Airlines, Shandong Airlines and Shanghai Airlines). There are currently 1,210 code sharing flights per week. In May 2005, Air China joined the biggest aviation union, Star-Field Union Understanding Memorandum. The numerous domestic, international and code share flights offered by Air China gives domestic and foreign customers convenient flight services. As of December 2005, Air China had 102 sales departments in China and abroad, and 10,000 dependent sales deputies among which 3,000 were domestic. It also developed 2,105 direct sales clients and 115 sales counters which created a strong and powerful sales network. In order to strengthen the market sales and make the sales channels more flexible, Air China offers electronic tickets and online sales services in many domestic cities.

Air China provides quality service to an extensive passenger group. Over 71% of the guests who take Air China flights are business and commercial passengers. Air China is the first airline choice for many people from Chinese governmental organizations and companies. The Frequent Passengers Club of Air China has over 3 million active and faithful members. In August 2004, Air China became the sole airline partner of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games. Air China has made a huge investment in the innovation of hardware and software equipment. The first class and business class seats of 15 wide body long distance planes like B747400, B747400COMB1 and A340300 have been upgraded so they can fully recline. The entertainment services have been upgraded as well.