Air China Limited is commonly abbreviated to "Air China". Its predecessor, the former Air China, was founded in 1988 and according to the "Civil Aviation System Reform Program" was approved and passed by the State Council in October 2002. The former Air China then consolidated with China National Aviation Company and China Southwest Airlines and the China Aviation Group Company was founded. With the joint resources of the three joined parties, the new Air China Company was established. On September 30th, 2004, Air China Limited was officially launched from Beijing and began to operate air transport services as its main business controlled by China Aviation Group. This was approved by the state-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of State Council (SASAC). On December 15th, 2004, Air China successfully listed in Hong Kong (SEHK: 0753) and London (LSE: AIRC).