Shenzhen Airlines, is installing a machine from Mechtronix with the snazzy and easy-to-remember name of B737-NG FFS X(TM). Not something that rolls easily off the tongue.

Mechtronix, claims it is the fastest growing and third leading manufacturer of flight training equipment in the world which is, not in truth, a major claim as there are much less than a dozen, probably closer to half that.

The equipment is currently being delivered with plans to install and qualify with the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) for training set to later this month the airline’s facility in Shenzhen.

The demand for pilots in China far out-strips the supply and airlines are forced, as it were, to grow their own.

Li Kun, President of Shenzhen Airlines is alleged to have said, ‘We selected the Mechtronix NZFT(TM) FFS X(TM) at Shenzhen for its growing global success serving other organizations and regulators where it has demonstrated proven quality, reliability and economic affordability.’

There is no way he actually said that. It is a prime example of PR-speak which does not relate in any way to the way that human beings converse.

The great attraction of the NZFT(TM) FFS X(TM), which is made in Montreal, although it has a long, mystifying and pretty stupid name, costs about half a typical flight simulator offering the same level of training.

The press release says, ‘The NZFT(TM) FFS X(TM) provides the highest level of fidelity and can easily be upgraded to a ZFT(TM) FFS X(TM).’

For which relief, much thanks.

Shenzhen Airlines, an airline company specializing in air passenger, cargo and mail transport, was founded in November 1992 and started service on September 17 1993. Currently it maintains 50 passenger aircraft (Boeing 737s and Airbus A320s) and four Boeing 747 cargo aircraft.
Source: CNW Group

Shenzhen Airlines has said passengers will soon be able to use their mobile phones and connect to the Internet during flights. The airline will be the first in China to offer the service.

Swiss technology firm OnAir is providing the service and said the move will allow travelers to call and send text messages from their mobile phones and access the Internet on laptops during flights.

Three aircraft from Shenzhen to Beijing and Shanghai will introduce the service ahead of the Beijing Olympics next year.

The OnAir service will be installed across Shenzhen Airlines’ full fleet of Boeing 737 and Airbus A320-family aircraft by mid-2009.

OnAir has earlier signed deals with other Asian and European airlines that want to introduce the technology, according to Benoit Debains, chief executive officer of OnAir. He didn’t elaborate on which airline is or will be the first in the world to provide the service in the air. Nor did he say how much the airlines will charge per call. Many passengers would like it to be $50 a minute. Or more.
Source: China Daily

Mesa Air Group, which also operates go! Airlines in Hawaii, has announced the commencement of regional commercial jet service in China.

The Phoenix-based Mesa signed a joint-venture agreement with Shenzhen Airlines of China in Beijing late last year.
Mesa’s Kunpeng Airlines has begun flying daily between the Chinese cities Taiyuan, Tianjin, Yichang, Hohot, Nanchang, Hefei and Zengzhou.

The fleet is expected to expand from two 50-seat aircraft by summer 2008, in time for the Beijing Olympic Games, and to 100 planes with more seating within five years.

Mesa operates 185 aircraft in the United States, Canada, the Bahamas and Mexico.
Source: Yahoo News

China’s aviation regulator has stopped accepting applications to set up new airlines until 2010. This, like the new restrictions on flights into Beijing, is part of effort to ease manpower and airspace shortages. These have been caused by the massive growth in air travel. However, it may be worth mentioning that the major airlines are, in effect and in fact, owned by the government.

And the move also has a protectionist flavor, with the government making an exception for the establishment of airlines that use Chinese-made regional jets, the first of which are expected to begin test flights this year.

Further exemptions will be made for freight airlines and carriers that use mostly foreign pilots, promise to fly at night, or which fly to impoverished regions in China’s west and north-east.

However, there is no doubt that there are many overly optimistic aspirant carriers who want to get into the airline industry ahead of the 2008 Olympics in Beijing and the 2010 World Expo in Shanghai.

This, as stated, is an addition, an extension, to the cut in the number of flights in and out of Beijing Capital International Airport. The initial step is a cut of 48 a day but more flight cuts are planned for major cities including Shanghai and Guangzhou.

Mainland Chinese airlines carried 45.81 million passengers in the second quarter of this year, up 17.5% from the same period a year earlier. Six major airlines — China Southern Airlines, Air China, China Eastern Airlines, Shanghai Airlines, Shenzhen Airlines and Hainan Airlines — account for more than 90% of passengers carried in China.

China has so far approved the establishment of just three private airlines: Beijing-based Okay Airways, Chengdu-based United Eagle Airlines and Shanghai-based Air Spring.
Sources: CargoNews Asia and The Financial Times

Shenzhen Airlines now flies from Shenzhen to Lhasa in a bid to get a slice of the booming tourism industry in the Tibet Autonomous Region. With a stopover in Southwest China’s Chongqing Municipality, it will take about five-and-a-half hours to fly from Shenzhen to Lhasa.

Liu Jianping, vice-president of Shenzhen Airlines said, ‘As the first air route to link Tibet and Shenzhen, the new route will greatly promote the exchanges in economy, culture and tourism between Lhasa, Chongqing and Shenzhen.

‘It will also play a positive role for Tibet in attracting outside investment and tourists from the Pearl River Delta areas.’

The carrier will have four flights every week. Tibet’s tourist arrivals are expected to pass three million by the end of this year and double that by 2010 according to a forecast by the tourism authority.
Source: China Daily