Private airline granted HK, Macau routes

East Star Airlines has been approved to open two new passenger routes from Wuhan to Macau and from Wuhan to Hong Kong, Xinhua reported (in Chinese). The routes, which were approved 18 months after the airline's debut flight, made it the first private Chinese carrier allowed to fly outside the mainland. East Star, based in the central Chinese city of Wuhan, has domestic 21 routes.