OAMag-V7N4-Cover [Converted] - Orient Aviation

eath.Firstly, the mergers proved unpopular withthe airlines and rumours circulated of heatedclosed door disputes. Secondly, as the financialposition of China’s major carriers improvedduring the year observers said the pressurewas off the CAAC to push through its reforms.Year-end came with a deafening silence. Butstreamlining of the mainland airlines is a questionof when rather than if. The big question iswhen and who?As a marker for the industry, China SouthernAirlines (CSA) company secretary, LiYongzhen said: “There has not been a strongrebound in passenger traffic despite the easingAsian financial crisis. CSA’s load factor is justabove 60 per cent, compared to 65.3% in 1997and 78% in 1994-95.Hainan borrows tobuy commuter jetsHAINAN Airlines’ chief Chen Feng musthave good contacts in Beijing’s corridors ofpower. He is one of China’s most successfuland charismatic entrepreneurs. He talks bigand backs his words with action. The Hainanboss, based in the southernmost part ofChina, known as the Hawaii of the East, hasobtained a domestic loan of US$132.9 millionfrom the Agriculture Bank of China to pay for10 of the 19 Fairchild Aerospace 328 jets theairline ordered last year. The new commuterfleet, purchased for approximately US$226million, is to be used by Hainan to ensure itgrabs the majority share of the developingfeeder airline market on the mainland. Theairline also has options on 20 more airplanes,which will take the value of the entire deal toUS$464 million.Hainan took delivery of its first 32-seatFairchild 328 Jet, powered by two P&W CanadaPW306B turbo fans, from the manufacturer inGermany on November 3. The aircraft has arange of 900 nautical miles.It was only in the early 1990s that Mr Chen,charged by the mayor of the province withforming an airline, toured Hainan looking forinvestors and had to explain to people themeaning of the word ‘stock’. Initially he wasnot impressed. “I told them I was not talkingabout paper aeroplanes,” he once told OrientAviation.Today, he has a profitable airline and significantinterests in airports and hotels.No new Taiwandeal for the PhilippinesTHE Taiwanese and Philippines governmentsstill cannot resolve the dispute over airrights that has produced the cancellation ofthe air service agreement between the twocountries. In the latest bout, Civil AeronauticalAdministration director, Chang Yu Heng, saidPhilippine Airlines’ (PAL) application to operatea daily Manila-Taipei-Manila service has beenrejected.He said the route will only be approvedif the Philippines’ Civil Aeronautical Board“grants designated Taiwanese carriers all trafficrights”, a condition that PAL repeatedly says itcan’t meet.“We fully realise that meeting this demandwill have an adverse effect on the national interest,”said PAL president Avelino L. Zapanta.“If you give sixth freedom rights to TaiwaneseFebruary 2000 | Orient Aviation | 17