28 Aug 2017

China Aviation Industry Newsletter 28 August

Brazil’s Embraer hosts 2017 China Regional Aviation Forum The 4th China Regional Aviation Forum (RAF 2017), a joint organization of Brazilian aeronautical company Embraer and the West Airport Group, will take place on 29 and 30 August in Yinchuan, Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, on the theme “Innovation, Connectivity and ‘The Belt & Road’: taking regional aviation to the next level,” the Brazilian group said in a statement. CAAC seeks competitive market Popular international routes in and out of China could soon be inviting more players, making the industry more competitive, as the Chinese aviation regulator plans to make some reforms. As part of the reforms, international routes will impose classifications, said the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC). The draft said international routes may be divided into two types. Routes that hold fully or partly open traffic rights between China and other countries and regions could be classified as the first type. The rest will be classified into the second type. The first-type classification will have no limitations on numbers of carriers, operational routes, flights and transport capacity and second type, there are no limitations on the numbers of carriers when it comes to medium and short-haul routes, but more than one carrier is expected for long-haul routes CALC sees strong 1H growth on global, fleet expansion China Aircraft Leasing Group (CALC) reported strong revenue growth in the 2017 first half as the company continues to expand and diversify globally. In the 1H, CALC posted a net profit of HK$248.7 million ($32 million), up 3.6% from 1H 2016. Revenue for the half-year was up 22.5% to HK$1.26 billion. As of 30 June CALC had 90 aircraft and delivered nine aircraft to new customers. CEO of Scoot: Bridging China and Singapore When he was appointed CEO of both Scoot Airways and Tigerair, two budget airlines owned by Singapore Airlines, in July, Lee Lik Hsin immediately realised he would have no leisure time. His task was cut out: lead the companies to higher growth targets so as to compete with other established rivals. "The Harbin service will start this December to enhance our service ability between Southeast Asia and China's northeast region," said Lee. Harbin will be Scoot's 19th destination in China from Singapore. China’s airline industry: 312 million passengers in first half of 2017 China’s civil aviation industry accomplished 925,000 hours of transport flight in July of 2017, a year-on-year increase of 11.0%. The whole industry sees 6.031 million hours of transport flight and 452,000 hours of general aviation flight from January to July, up by 11.5% and 1.8% over the previous year respectively, with no transport aviation accident or general aviation accident. From January to July, the whole industry recorded a total transport turnover of 60.88 billion ton-km and transported 312 million passengers, up by 12.8% and 13.2% over the previous year respectively. COMAC sets up major investments for future Commercial Aircraft Corp of China Ltd has put together multibillion yuan funds to support research and development after rolling out the C919. Earlier this month, the latest round of funding for COMAC was announced when Huatai Asset Management injected 15 billion yuan ($2.25 billion) into the State-owned aircraft manufacturer. Part of the deal allows COMAC to renew the agreement after the investment policy matures. Financial leasing firm to widen portfolio Chinese financial leasing company, Haitong UniTrust International Leasing, is seeking HK$39 billion through an initial public offering on the main board this year. The Shanghai-based company ranked third among foreign-funded financial leasing companies under the regulation of China's Ministry of Commerce in terms of revenue and total assets as of December 31, 2016, according to Frost & Sullivan. The core business of the company is financial leasing, in which it leases various types of equipment through direct lease or sale-and-lease back transactions. Jetstar returns to Australia-China market with new Zhengzhou service Jetstar plans to resume nonstop services between Australia and China with twice weekly flights to Zhengzhou in partnership with a Chinese travel company. the flights will commence in December 2017 with 335-seat Boeing 787-8 equipment. Zhengzhou is located in the eastern part of China, about 650km south of the capital Beijing. The fast-growing city has a population of about nine million residents and is regarded as one of China’s industrial hubs. Acumen Aviation © 28 August All Rights Reserved.