1 · POSITION
Chen Feng was the principal Hainan Airlines/HNA entrepreneur and the strongest documented founding strategist behind Deer Jet's entry into Chinese business aviation.
2 · WHY HE IS IN THE LIBRARY
His relevance is not ordinary airline management: industry testimony traces the Deer Jet business-aircraft concept directly to his mid-1990s plan for executive charter in China.
3 · 1994 MEETING
A 2026 industry memoir by former Learjet executive Ted Farid recalls Chen visiting him in 1994 with a business plan for a Chinese business-aircraft charter operation.
4 · MARKET THESIS
The initial target included Western oil companies and other enterprises entering the Chinese market.
5 · LEARJET
Chen initially preferred a Learjet 60, but delivery constraints led to a pre-owned Learjet 55 as an early operating solution.
6 · HAINAN AIRLINES CONTEXT
Executive-jet activity emerged from the entrepreneurial Hainan Airlines system.
7 · DEER JET
Deer Jet was founded in 1995.
8 · CO-FOUNDERS
Farid identifies Chen Feng as Chairman, Wang Jian as President and Adam 'Xiangdong' Tan as Executive Vice President in the founding team.
9 · WHY CHEN FIRST
Among the three, Chen is the person directly associated with the original business plan in the detailed industry recollection.
10 · CHINA PIONEER
The venture preceded a mature Chinese private-aviation market.
11 · 2004 MILESTONE
Deer Jet later became China's first aviation company licensed for business and tourism charter flights, according to its corporate history.
12 · HNA EXPANSION
Chen and his partners built HNA into a much broader aviation and tourism conglomerate.
13 · HOSPITALITY RELEVANCE
HNA's expansion crossed airlines, airports, hotels and travel infrastructure, placing aviation inside a wider hospitality ecosystem.
14 · DEER JET EVOLUTION
The business later expanded into aircraft management, FBOs, trip support and VVIP charter.
15 · DREAM JET BOUNDARY
Chen should not be credited with designing the later BBJ 787 Dream Jet.
16 · FOUNDER VERSUS LATER BRAND
His authorship is the creation of the institutional platform on which later Deer Jet luxury products were built.
17 · WHY GROUP I
Pioneers & Inventors is the strongest fit because the relevant achievement is pioneering regulated business aviation in China rather than simply owning an aviation company.
18 · WHY NOT GROUP II
Owner-Creator is also plausible, but the historical category-creation role in China's market is more informative.
19 · EVIDENCE CANDOUR
The detailed founder narrative comes from Ted Farid's 2026 first-person industry memoir, not Deer Jet's own official history. Deer Jet independently confirms its 1995 founding and 2004 first-license milestone, which supports the broader chronology.
20 · CONCLUSION
Chen Feng's hospitality significance begins with a practical aviation question: how should China's new international business class move privately? Deer Jet became one of the institutions built to answer it. ## Sources
21 · DEER JET · HISTORY — HTTPS://EN.DEERJET.COM/ABOUT/HISTORY.HTML
3. Kestrel Aviation · First Ever BBJ 787 — https://www.kestrelaviation.com/airliner-conversions/first-ever-bbj-787/ 4. Kestrel Aviation · Genesis of a Corporate Jet — https://www.kestrelaviation.com/airliner-conversions/genesis-of-a-corporate-jet/ 5. Kestrel Aviation · BBJ 787 Quotes — https://www.kestrelaviation.com/airliner-conversions/bbj-787-quotes/ 6. Aviation Week · UAS appointed Dream Jet charter manager — https://aviationweek.com/business-aviation/dubai-airshow-uas-appointed-exclusive-charter-manager-dream-jet 7. Corporate Jet Investor · V V Difficult Project — https://www.corporatejetinvestor.com/news/v-v-difficult-project-405/ 8. JetHQ · Rise and Fall of HNA Group and Deer Jet — https://jethq.com/blog/deer-jet-blog-ted-farid