A new Chinese developed turbo-prop passenger aircraft successfully performed its first test flight with passengers  Chinese media reported last week.

Xinzhou-600 turbo-prop

The test flight of the Xinzhou-600 aircraft, carrying journalists and businessmen, lasted for approximately 10 minutes over the Tianjin International Airport.

Chinese media reported that the flight marked the end of the monopolization of China’s civil aviation market by foreign developed aircraft.

The new aircraft can carry a maximum of 52 or 60 passengers, depending on its configuration, and has a maximum range of 1,600 kilometers. The aircraft is intended for domestic flight use.

Xinzhou-60 aircraft are expected to enter the market in 2009. Contracts for the acquisition of 30 aircraft, as well as 10 leasing contracts, have already been signed.
Source: Interfax

Air Zimbabwe to have Chinese partnerships?

Air Zimbabwe is perhaps negotiating with two Chinese airlines for a partnership.

The managing director of Zimbabwe International Travel Tours, Steve Zhao, told a workshop this was part of China’s drive to create more economic partnerships with Zimbabwe.

He said he hoped that the negotiations would be fruitful to enable the two airlines to work together to bring more Chinese tourists into the country.

In an interview on the sidelines of the workshop, Air Zimbabwe chief executive Patrick Chikumba could however, not divulge much about the deal.

He said, ‘As Air Zimbabwe we are working with various airlines to see which areas we can co-operate but at the moment I cannot say which ones. We are working with airlines from the Western countries and even those from China.’

Worth noting that every European airline has now stopped flying to Zimbabwe although a handful of flights still come in from some Aftican countries.

He said the airline was seeking the partnerships to improve its efficiency.

While Zimbabwe has attractive tourist destinations, he said little was being done to ensure that appropriate conditions that suit Asian people are available in the country.

He said, ‘Right now we have few people who can speak Chinese in the country. While a Chinese is comfortable with a western dish for a day, I tell you that they cannot stand that for a week. Most hotels in the country are not offering Chinese dishes and this is affecting the visitors.’

Somehow, none of it seems likely.
Source: Zimbabwe Chronicle

ASEM meeting in Beijing

The next Asia-Europe Meeting is running in Beijing  this week.  The 7th Asia-Europe Meeting is being held in Beijing from October 24th to 25th. Authorities in Beijing are cooperating on a comprehensive strategy to manage every step of this event. The aim is to ensure maximum convenience and security as participants set foot in China’s capital.

To provide efficient services, the local aviation authority says it has teamed up with the customs regulator, airport operators, and securities departments. Together, they have drawn up arrangements to ensure maximum convenience for participants and minimal impact on regular passengers.

Around 18 private jets, and 26 special flights are involved in bringing people to Beijing for the Asia-Europe Meeting. Aviation officials say this means there will be planes landing every 10 minutes during peak hours.

Liu Zhonghua said ‘We have arranged tight and comprehensive security at every step to guarantee the safety of foreign government officials. It will be just like the Olympic Games.’

Aviation authorities also say temporary traffic controls will be adopted during certain hours on the airport express high-way. Travelers should bear this in mind.
Source: CCTV.com

Where have all the passengers gone?

China’s airline industry will most likely end up in the red in 2008 as it confronts a slowing domestic economy and the prospects of a global recession according to industry executives and analysts.

Flag carrier Air China and Shanghai-based China Eastern Airlines have both warned  they would post losses for the first nine months of the year, blaming high fuel costs and the weak economy.

A sharp slowdown in the appreciation of the yuan since mid-July is also set to undermine earnings in the second half of the year.

Business was also hurt by the devastating Sichuan earthquake in southwestern China in May, as well as travel restrictions and stepped-up airport safety checks that deterred air travel before and during the Beijing Olympics in August, which dealt a particularly severe blow to Beijing-based Air China.
Source: CargoExpress Asia

Air China staff

Air China, the nation’s largest international carrier, said it dropped to a nine-month loss because of higher fuel costs and travel disruptions caused by the Olympics and natural disasters.

The Beijing- based airline made a profit of 3.49 billion yuan ($511 million) in the first nine months of last year.

Air China joins China Eastern Airlines in reporting a probable loss in the period after the government forced carriers to curb flights to Beijing during the Olympics in order to ease pollution and congestion.

Hundreds of flights were also canceled nationwide earlier in the year because of snowstorms in January and to help with relief efforts after the May Sichuan earthquake.

Li Lei, an analyst at China Securities in Beijing, said, ‘The third-quarter results will be dreadful, wiping out profits from the first half. There’s not much doubt that carriers will post full-year losses as well.’
Source: Bloomberg

Beijing International airport

Beijing international airport has said its aims to become an international hub for the Asia-Pacific region in five years, despite the global economic slump and the aviation industry’s downturn.
The airport forecast continuous passenger throughput growth this year, at 10%, while some airlines in other countries have gone bankrupt and airports have suffered from the economic downturn and soaring oil prices.

Dong Zhiyi, general manager of the Beijing Capital International Airport said, ‘The growth this year is slower than last year (18%), but China’s aviation market is the world’s aviation development engine, and its future is prosperous.’

The airport’s deputy general manager Fan Jun told China Daily: ‘Many more airlines have come to us and expressed wishes to open new routes to Beijing.’

The airport plans to attract more transfer passengers to Beijing, joining the ranks of other international hubs in the Asia-Pacific region, such as Incheon, Tokyo, Singapore and Hong Kong.

“Beijing’s advantages are the strong support from China’s rapidly growing economy and the pace of project completion,” the company’s deputy manager Gao Lijia
Source:China Daily

Air Asia not going to Johor

The state government of Johor in Malaysia said it was not informed by budget airline Air Asia that it was terminating its direct flights from Senai to Macau as of last Sunday.

State Tourism, Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Committee chairman Hoo Seong Chang said, ‘I cannot comment on the matter before finding out what prompted the move by Air Asia.’

Hoo said during his recent trip to China, airlines such as the Guangzhou-based China Southern Airlines (CSA), had expressed an interest in starting flights from several Chinese provinces to Senai.

‘We are enthusiastic about this as Senai Airport is gearing up to become an international airport,’ he said. It is possible that at these trying times his enthusiasm is misplaced.
Source: The New Straits Times

China Eastern to join Shanghai Air

This has been going on for months. If courtships progressed at this rate the human race would die out.

A proposed merger between China Eastern Airlines and Shanghai Airlines has been approved in principle by the Shanghai government according to China Business News.

The proposal calls for China Eastern to take a 60% stake in Shanghai Air, followed by a cash injection into China Eastern from the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission.

Spokesmen for both airlines said the carriers had not been informed by the government of any merger proposals or discussed the issue directly with each other. Nothing like keeping the important players in the dark.

Sources familiar with the matter said the government was discussing the possibility of brokering a merger of the two Shanghai-based airlines to create a dominant player with a 60% share of domestic flights in to and from Shanghai. No doubt, in the fullness of time, the two major players will be told.
Source: Reuters

Hong Kong airline Cathay Pacific has been ‘hit hard’ by the global financial crisis with a significant drop in the number of first and business class travelers.

Cathay’s chief executive Tony Tyler said that concern had shifted from the sky-high price of oil earlier in the year to weak passenger numbers.

He said, ‘In the first half of the year the problem was very much a cost crisis caused by runaway fuel prices, but now — in the midst of a global financial meltdown —  we are also being hit hard on the demand side.

‘The fact that revenue growth is stalling in our biggest market, Hong Kong, is a serious worry.

‘We are very exposed to the financial industry here and when banks, our biggest corporate customers, cut or even just curtail their travel plans we know we can expect to be in for a rough ride.’

‘I wish I had something more optimistic to say but the truth is that Cathay Pacific — and the airline industry as a whole —  has entered another very troublesome period.’
Source: AFP

Xi'an airport

After flirting with China’s airports for several years, Frankfurt airport operator Fraport has finally settled down in Xi’an, Shaanxi province, in northwest China.

Fraport Asia has acquired a 24.5″ stake in the new Xi’an Xianyang International Airport, one of the top 15 cargo airports in China and a fast-growing passenger destination, for $71.79 million. The other main partners in the venture is China West Airport Group with a 50.9% stake and China National Aviation with 24.5%.

The $293 million joint venture began operations early last month. It owns the infrastructure and associated land at Xi’an airport and is responsible for all airside facilities.

Robert Payne, an official with Fraport, said the Xi’an deal was clinched more than a year ago and was just awaiting approval from Beijing authorities.
More HERE.
Source: Cargonews Asia