In 2006, it divested 49% of its shareholdings to a consortium of companies including China Airlines, Yang Ming Marine Transport Corporation, Wan Hai Lines and China Container Express Lines.

Yangtze River Express applied for permission to serve Novosibirsk in Russia as well as Dallas–Fort Worth and Los Angeles in the United States from 2009, pending CAAC approval.

In December 2023 airline launched operations to Moscow Oblast, Russia.

[4] On 15 December 2015, Yangtze River Airlines launched domestic passenger flights under its revised name.

Routes initially included Shanghai-Pudong Airport to Guyang, Sanya and Zhuhai using a single Boeing 737-800.