Spring Airlines, a privately owned carrier aiming to tap China's budget travel market, has partnered with pioneering Malaysian low-cost carrier AirAsia, state press reported today.

"The airline has started cooperation with Air Asia to develop new routes and projects," the Shanghai Daily quoted Wang Zhenghua, chairperson of Spring, as saying.

Spring will operate three round-trip flights from Shanghai and Jinan cities to Xiamen city in China's southeast, where AirAsia operates flights to Southeast Asia, Wang said.

"We hope to use Xiamen as a transfer hub and open more flights from major provincial cities that don't have direct links to Southeast Asia," Wang said.

Break even by April?

Shanghai-based Spring, owned by one of China's largest travel agencies, operates three Airbus A320s but unlike AsiaAir, it has yet to turn a profit and has been losing US$250,000 a month since its maiden flight in July.

Wang hopes the tie-up with AirAsia, which dominates the crowded Southeast Asian low-cost sector, could help Spring break even by this April.

Only last year, Okay Airways, the country's first budget airline, said prohibitive costs were forcing it to overhaul its budget business operating model.

Tight government restrictions over landing fees and tightly-controlled jet fuel make it particularly tough for discount airlines to make money in China.