Cathay Pacific , Hong Kong’s largest airline, has made Boeing very happy by ordering seven 777-300ERs and 10 747-8 cargo planes, the airline said in a Hong Kong stock exchange statement . The carrier also took options for another 14 747-8 freighters and received ’significant price concessions.’ Put in an order like that and you would expect a discount.

Cathay Pacific plans to expand its fleet as China’s economic growth rate of at least 11% boosts travel and trade. The new freighters will replace older, less fuel-efficient planes, helping the airline cut its fuel bills at a time when prices are soaring.

Edward Wong, an analyst at Quam in Hong Kong said, ‘Cathay needs more airplanes to support its expansion in mainland China. China is expected to open its aviation market, and carriers need to get ready ahead of that.’

Cathay Pacific now has 30 commitments for the 777-300ER, including three already delivered, making it the largest customer for the plane in Asia.

Air travel in China grew 19.5% in the first half as economic growth made holidays and business trips affordable to more people. Cathay Pacific bought smaller rival Hong Kong Dragon Airlines last year to add flights to the mainland and if it sorts out its current dramas with the pilots it is in a good position to build in it largest market which currently accounts for 43% of sales.

Chief Executive Tony Tyler, seen here, said, ‘Sometime in the future we will be ordering more aircraft to supplement frequency and capacity on our regional network. I am confident that we will continue to grow our fleet.”

The Cathay Pacific Group, including Dragonair and Air Hong Kong Ltd., a cargo venture with DHL, operates a combined total of 175 planes, according to the statement. That will rise to 196 by 2012, including 147 painted in Cathay Pacific colors.

But Cathay Pacific does not always win. Its attempt to get a part of China Eastern Airlines did not happen as the previous story shows.

More people travel. More people buy travel tickets. Travel agencies, especially those who know how to work the Internet properly, make more money. China’s top online travel agent, Ctrip.com, made what has been called an ‘unexpectedly strong quarterly profit’ — probably the only people who did not expect it were the analysts — driven by rising travel demand.

Third-quarter profit almost doubled to $15 million, or 21 cents per American Depositary Share, from 12 cents a year earlier. Revenues rose to a record $46 million, as hotel reservations, flight bookings and package tours all posted strong growth.

Ctrip shares have risen about 84% this year. Ctrip said it was looking at opportunities presented by the 2008 Beijing Olympics to begin catering to inbound traffic, but added such business would be negligible next year.

CFO Jane Sun told an analyst conference, ‘The financial impact from the Olympics next year will not be significant.’

Revenue was split roughly in half between the mainland’s first tier and second tier cities. However, revenue growth from second-tier cities was 40-45%, almost double the 20-30% growth in the main cities such as Beijing and Shanghai.

The company is also facing pressure from airlines that increasingly sell directly to customers. This is true all over the world. The airlines, no matter what they say, love cutting out any intermediary. To overcome this, CTrip, and all the other players, must offer one stop shopping which is cheaper than the Internet savvy user could assemble from three or four sites.

China Southern Airlines, China’s biggest carrier, said its third quarter net profit rose 49% to RMB1.88 billion from a year ago as rapid economic growth on the mainland boosted demand for travel.

It will acquire 10 new aircraft by 2010 as part of its plan to expand its overseas routes.

The airline carried 42.7 million passengers in the first nine months of this year, 15.5% more than the same period in 2006, the company said earlier this month. Cargo volume jumped 6.2% to 639,980 tons.

China Southern plans to start flying at least 10 new overseas routes before the Beijing Olympics in 2008, taking on rival Air China, the mainland’s largest international carrier.

Jimmy Wong, an aviation analyst with Nomura International said, ‘As of now, only 20% of China Southern’s revenue comes from international routes, so their main focus is the domestic market. But with the Chinese aviation industry posting double-digit growth numbers this year it is essential for the airline to expand.’

In the last 12 months, China Southern has entered into agreements to buy 80 Boeing B737-700/800s and 20 Airbus A320-series aircraft. China Southern plans to expand its fleet of over 300 aircraf t by 22% this year. The airline has a third of the Chinese aviation market.

Asiana, the South Korean carrier, intends to use its extensive network into China to try and become the carrier of choice for Olympics attendees.

Asiana Airlines flies to more cities in China than any other airline and has been using its network to draw more U.S. passengers traveling China. It want to introduce other Chinese destinations to people who will be visiting that country for the first time to attend the Beijing Games.

Kang Joo-an, president of Asiana said, ‘In terms of China, we are the market leader. Though competition is fierce, we believe we have the most-convenient network and best service to China.’

On Asiana U.S. passengers can make a stopover at South Korea’s Incheon International Airport, then catch another flight to any of the 20 cities in China it serves.

Asiana currently operates four daily nonstops between LAX and Incheon but is looking to add more flights before the Beijing Olympics.
Asiana is about half the size of Korean Air: It has 63 aircraft and flies to 63 cities in 17 countries, whereas Korean Air has 123 aircraft and flies to 114 cities in 37 countries.

Asiana has its strengths. For the third year in a row, Asiana was picked as having the best on-board service and flight attendants in the world, beating Singapore Airlines and British Airways, in a survey of business travelers. It also is one of only five airlines in the world with the highest five-star rating from an independent rating firm, SkyTrax. And this writer can testify that at least one frequent traveler goes out of his way to fly Asiana.
Source: LA Times

According to data from the Civil Aviation Administration of China, China’s aviation industry posted a total passenger volume of 45.813 million in the second quarter of the year, an increase of 17.5% compared to the same period last year.

Passenger volume increased by 0.3 percentage point, total traffic by 1.6 percentage points and cargo and mail by 3.7 percentage points compared to the first quarter data.
Total traffic throughput reached 8.77 billion ton-km, up by 19.8%, and cargo and mail volume totaled 0.969 million tons, higher by 17% on year-on-year.
International flights total traffic volume was 3.05 billion ton-km, an increase of 26.6% on a year-on-year basis.
Total passengers reached 4.121 million, up by 20% and cargo and mail reached 0.27 million tons, higher by 29.2 percent.
The average scheduled flight occupancy rate is 74.7%, and the scheduled flight load factor 65.9%, both up by 2 percentage points compared to data in the first quarter.

In truth those figure are something of a worry. They should be higher. This is the year the American airlines came in a flood and there will be a lot more in the next five years.

True, the Olympic Games will give next year’s figures a big boost and Expo 2010 comes after that. But the aviation industry in China simply has to lift its game, especially in the area of passenger service, if it is to hang on to a decent percentage of overseas flights. The food must always be as good as shown in our illustration, which is the Dynasty Service on China Airlines.
Source: China Aviation Civil Report

More travelers from China are thinking of going overseas as a change to the normal domestic trip during the National Day holiday — thanks to the rising renminbi.

The value of the renminbi against the US dollar has surged nearly 10% since July 2005, when the central bank unpegged the currency from the greenback and linked it to a basket of currencies.

Most travel agencies have said the number of tourists applying for overseas trips during the National Day holiday is higher than the same period last year.

Lin Kang at China International Travel Service said, ‘We have seen an increase of 10-15% in outbound tourism.’

He said tour products to Europe, South Korea, Japan and some islands such as Maldives and Saipan are popular as is Hong Kong.

Last year, 34 million Chinese traveled overseas, making them the sixth largest group of outbound tourists worldwide. In the first half, outbound tourism grew 14% year on year, the China National Tourism Administration said earlier this month. It estimated that 37.4 million Chinese will travel overseas this year.
Source: China Daily

China’s civil aviation authority said it has approved 27 new international routes to Europe and America.
The routes will be opened in the next two years. In addition, there will be 206 more flights per week on the existing routes to Europe and America, said the General Administration of Civil Aviation of China (CAAC).

The new routes will be run by Air China, China Southern Airlines, China Eastern Airlines, Shanghai Airlines and Hainan Airlines, which have introduced aircraft such as Boeing B787 and Airbus A380.
Source: China View

The facts are easy. Sina.com, China’s largest portal with over 100 million monthly unique visitors, together with Qunar.com, China’s largest travel search engine with over 8 million monthly unique visitors is going to launch “Free Talk Travel”. This will be a blog publishing platform that will allow Chinese travelers for the first time to share their travel experiences in an innovative and interactive way.

Kevin Zhu, Life Channel Editor of Sina.com said, although it sounds like flack-speak, ‘We feel that Qunar will provide us the right travel industry expertise and consumer insights to co-develop this exciting new project. Both the blog platform and travel e-publishing are sure to be well-received by our users.’

Denise Peng, VP of Product Development at Qunar.com, ‘Sina is the right partner for us as we expand our service offering into the realm of travel 2.0. We’re looking forward to an outstanding cooperation!’

Well, yes. It will work but there is a tremendous potential problem which every similar site has already faced. Airlines get their staff to write in as innocent users lauding the airline to the skies. This is so common that most savvy users ignore all the positive comments and just look for the negative ones.

Keeping such a blog clear of flackery is well nigh impossible. An airline wants favorable mentions, the PR asks a friend and then another friend. And so it goes on.

An intelligent reading can spot when this has happened because the reports are over-enthusiastic. But it is almost impossible to police totally. No doubt this blog will be a success. But, equally, no doubt it will contain a fair amount of lying puffery about airlines and other travel facilities.

(The illustration comes from Sina.com and, no, there is no indication which airline it might concern. This is called diplomacy. And the picture is nicer than another aircraft.)
Source: CNN:Money

According to the latest figures from the China National Tourism Administration (CNTA) nearly 12.12 million foreigners came to the Chinese mainland for sightseeing from January to June, That is up 18.47% year-on-year.

The growth rate more than tripled the 6.1% increase for all inbound tourists to the Chinese mainland, who added up to 63.37 million in the first half of the year.

It also overtook the 4.22% rise for tourists from Hong Kong, 0.56% rise for tourists from Macao and 8.84% rise for tourists from Taiwan.

Foreign tourists came mainly from 16 countries, with tourists from the Republic of Korea registering the rapid growth of 30.62%, followed by India 16.48% and Russia, 15.73%.

Philippines, Canada, France, Australia, Indonesia, Singapore, Germany, Malaysia, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States each registered a growth of over 10% in the number of tourists to China.

Tourism generated nearly $17.94 billion U.S. dollars in foreign currency in the first six months, up 13.1% year-on-year. More than half or $10.25 billion came from foreign tourists, up 19.64% over the same period of last year.
Source: EastDay