Air China Ltd said it carried 2.85 million passengers in March, down 0.9% year-on-year.

The airline said the overall passenger load factor was 77.7% in March, down 0.1 percentage point year-on-year.

For the first three months, it carried 8.31 million passengers, up 5.7% year-on-year, while the overall passenger load factor for the period was 77.1%, up 2.4 percentage points.

Air China carried 82,000 tons of cargo in March, down 1.4% from a year earlier, and a total of 220,000 tons for the first three months, a rise of 1.3%.

Cargo load factor for March was 60.5%, up 5.6 percentage points, while the load factor for the first three months was 56.3%, up 5.3 percentage points.

In truth, these are not inspiring figures.
Source: Trading Markets

A new air route has opened over China that will reduce flying times between Europe and cities in the east and south of the country. IATA says the new route, designated B208, was implemented on April and around 475 flights a week expected to use it.

The association says flights from Europe to Shanghai, Guangzhou and Hong Kong will no longer have to be channeled through Beijing, saving 60 nautical miles (111km) per flight.

IATA director general and CEO Giovanni Bisignani said, ‘While being introduced to deal with Olympic-related congestion, this is the latest in a series of major permanent improvements to China’s air traffic management infrastructure.’

China introduced a new route in 2006, dubbed Y-1, that cuts flight times between Europe and China by 30 minutes per round-trip. Also last year, China introduced reduced vertical separation minimum (RVSM) procedures that helped to increase airspace capacity.
Source: Flight

The Chinese government has officially approved the launch of China Commercial Aircrafts, which will manufacture large passenger planes. The plan is to have jets designed and built in China rolling off an assembly line by 2020.

Asian airlines are expected to buy nearly 10,000 new planes by 2025, with more than 2,200 of those going to Chinese airlines.

China has acquired the needed technical expertise by cooperating with Boeing and Airbus. China Aviation Industries Corporation (AVIC-I) produces components for Boeing’s 747 and 787 wide-bodies and operates a final assembly line for the Airbus A320.

China has already received more than 100 0rders for the 70-passenger regional jet ARJ21 and will set up a sales subsidiary for the ARJ21 in the United States.

True, Chinese aircraft must meet the Department of Transportation’s stringent safety criteria before they’ll be allowed to fly in the United States, and there is some question as to how long it will take China to meet these standards although every manufacturer in the world has had to go through this process and, although lengthy, it can be done.

The biggest problem remaining is the issue of consumer perception.

Chinese airlines are still well below world standard in running their airlines, mo matter who the manufacturer. Worldwide there would be resistance, initially at least, from passengers who simply would not wish to fly on an aircraft built in China in exactly the same way such resistance exists against aircraft built in Russia.
Source: Wired

Pilots flying for a subsidiary of China Eastern Airlines turned back midflight to southwestern Chinese airports, in a rare strike to protest lower pay and other conditions.

Seventeen flights returned to their departure airports in Yunnan Province in a protest by pilots of China Eastern subsidiary Yunnan Airlines.

The Yunnan Info Daily quoted an unnamed pilot as saying China Eastern flights departing from Kunming airport returned to the city after takeoff on Monday and Tuesday for reasons other than ‘weather conditions’ — the explanation given by the carrier.

The pilots’ complaints seen to be that they limited to domestic routes and therefore shorter flying hours and lower pay than counterparts in the parent company. There is also a question of tax on overtime pay.

State-run television reported the strike as well as passengers’ complaints

Leading financial magazine Caijing said that pilots would not be punished, citing an air administration official.

The return of the flights left at least 1,500 passengers stranded in Kunming airport.

This is the third incident in a month related to the disputes.

More than 40 Shanghai Airlines pilots asked for ’sick leave’ on March 14, while 11 East Star Airlines pilots ‘took a holiday’ last Friday.

This week’s incidents caught the attention of the General Administration of Civil Aviation of China (CAAC).

Beijing Times reported that in an emergency meeting, the CAAC said the pilot leading the move could face a lifelong ban on piloting.

The CAAC also asked China Eastern to settle the dispute as soon as possible to guarantee flight safety.

The newspaper quoted insiders as saying the root of problem lies in a national shortage of pilots, especially captains. The CAAC estimated at least 6,500 more pilots are needed by 2010, but only 600 to 800 are trained every year.
Source: China View and Reuters

Air China is flying direct, regularly scheduled flights from Beijing to Pyongyang, capital of the Democratic Peoples’ Republic of Korea (DPRK) and as such, will be the only foreign airline to land at the city’s Sunan International Airport. Previously, the only way to travel to Pyongyang was to take a flight operated by DPRK’s state-owned carrier, Air Koryo.

Since the beginning of this month Air China has had three round-trip flights each week between Beijing and Pyongyang.

Flight CA121 will leave Beijing every Monday, Wednesday and Friday afternoon and return from Pyongyang as CA122 later the same day.

Although it is still fairly difficult for tourists to be granted visas in order to visit the DPRK, Air China is banking on an increase in the number of Chinese businesspeople who may fly to Pyongyang on official trips, as well as some leisure travelers.

Air China, however, is not the first foreign carrier to operate regular flights to the DPRK. China

In addition to Air China, Air Koryo, seen in our illustration, will continue to offer regular flights from Beijing to Pyongyang. The carrier operates a fleet of 21 Soviet-built planes, including the Tupolev Tu-134 and Tu-154, as well as the Ilyushin 62 and the Antonov An-24.

Accurate information on Air Koryo’s domestic network of destinations in difficult to come by, but the carrier does operate at least one regularly scheduled internal route.
Source: Reuters