Air China, the official airline partner of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, has set up a 24-hour command center to ensure smooth air traffic during the Games.

Cai Jianjiang, Air China’s president, said the company had invested RMB568 million (about $81 million) to improve its ground control system and train employees.

The company had recruited 300 new stewards and selected 562 volunteers from current staff to work for the Games.

The new center would facilitate the coordination between the airline and the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC), and other key units at the Beijing Capital International Airport.
Source: China View

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) has began a landmark travel countdown — it is now slightly less than 100 days to comprehensive flight e-ticketing worldwide.

Giovanni Bisignani, IATA’s Director General and CEO said, ‘In 100 days the paper ticket gets put in a museum. On June 1 2008, we will achieve 100% electronic ticketing.’

IATA began its global e-ticket drive in June 2004, with the dual goals of making travel and shipping more convenient and more cost efficient.

While a paper ticket costs $10 to process, e-ticketing reduces that cost to $1 which means the travel industry will save over $3 billion each year.

When the e-ticketing program began in 2004, only 18% of flight tickets issued globally were e-tickets. Today, according to IATA, global paperless penetration is 93%.

China has agreed to meet IATA’s 100% e-ticket deadline, which comes into force a little more than two months before the start of the 2008 Olympics in Beijing.

Source: BizChina

Beijing Capital International Airport has held its last and largest drill before the trial operation starts February 29.

More than 8,000 passengers participated in the three-hour drill, checking in more than 7,000 pieces of luggage on 146 domestic and international flights.

Organizers said the main purpose of the drill was to test procedures of departure, arrival and transfer, as well as VIP security.

Most participants were university students and other volunteers selected by an online survey. The number of flights involved was nearly double that in the previous drill and was close to the estimated daily average expected when the terminal goes into operation.

Six airlines will use Terminal 3, including Sichuan Airlines, Shandong Airlines, Qatar Airways, Qantas Airways, British Airways and El Al Israel Airlines.

After Terminal 3 ís opening, the airport will have the capacity to carry 82 million passengers annually, against the present 35 million. The expansion cost RMB27 billion ($3.65 billion).
Source: Shanghai Daily

The China Daily — so you can take it as official — reports China has ordered domestic airlines to reduce delays and improve service around August’s Beijing Olympics or face penalties.

Among other possible penalties one that could really hurt is that airlines that fail to improve performance could be barred from expanding services for two years. Scrutiny will be intensified from July to September nd airlines have fair warning of what is expected.

It is, in truth, asking an awful lot.

China’s airlines and airports have struggled with soaring demand for passenger and cargo services amid the country’s economic boom. Despite increases in airline fleets and new airports, air traffic corridors have become clogged around major cities and hubs.

The situation is not helped by the fact that total control of the air rests with the PLA which, perhaps understandably, has a tendency to regard the skies as being an arena in which they allow domestic airlines to operate. And sometimes, quite arbitarily, can withdraw that permission for a period of time which can range from minutes to even more than a day.

Then there are the airports.

Beijing’s overcrowded airport, the world’s 9th busiest, will open a new US$4.6 billion terminal and runway this year to cope with the demand. And, in truth, it will only just be enough for the Olympics.

The Civil Aviation Administration has ordered airlines to stop overbooking flights and keep one or two planes on standby at six key airports in case of delays. Which means, practically be definition, that the airlines are going have to turn customers away. Which will be very difficult.

To make it even more difficult the aviation regulator has also extended a penalty measure introduced last year allowing it to cancel flights that are regularly delayed.

It looks like being a difficult summer for the airlines.
Source: Canadian Press

Air New Zealand will have a new twice weekly direct Auckland-Beijing service. Air New Zealand chief executive Rob Fyfe and said the direct service would operate from July 18.

The service, subject to all necessary Chinese regulatory and operating approvals, would operate out of Auckland on Wednesday and Friday and out of Beijing on Thursday and Saturday using the airline’s new Boeing 777-200ER aircraft.

Rob Fyfe said the new service would build on the success of the airline’s Auckland-Shanghai service which was launched in November 2006.

He said, ‘Chinese visitor numbers to New Zealand continue to boom, increasing approximately 14% year-on-year, and its rapidly developing economy offers significant potential for both Air New Zealand and the broader New Zealand tourism industry.’

To provide sufficient capacity for the Beijing flights, the airline will cut its Auckland Shanghai service to three times a week until November 2008.

Rob Fyfe said from November next year the airline planned to operate five services a week to Shanghai, plus the two Beijing flights.

Group general manager international airline Ed Sims said, ‘Our direct Shanghai service was primarily aimed to serve its 17 million citizens. By offering a direct service to Beijing, we expect to gain a greater number of customers looking to travel to New Zealand from other parts of China, and from Europe. It will also provide Kiwis with an easy and convenient way to travel deeper into China.’
Source: Stuff