Shareholders in China Eastern Airlines rejected the proposed sale of 24 per cent of the company to Singapore Airlines and its parent Temasek for HK$7.16bn ($918m) on Tuesday after an unprecedented campaign by larger rival Air China to block the deal.

The rejection leaves China National Aviation Corp, Air China’s parent company, free to make its own bid for CEA, which it said would come within two weeks and be no less than HK$5 a share, a large premium to the HK$3.80 offered by SIA and Temasek, Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund.