08 Sep 2020

China Aviation Industry Newsletter 8 September

CALC receives AAA from Major Chinese Credit Agency Dagong Global China Aircraft Leasing Group Holdings Limited (CALC) announced that the Group has received a corporate credit rating of AAA by Dagong Global Credit Rating one of the top credit rating agencies in China. Mr. Zhao Wei, Chairman of CALC Group, said “This rating fully demonstrates CALC’s solid business fundamentals and long-term development prospects. Though the aviation market is facing stringent challenges in 2020, CALC has managed to turn this crisis into an opportunity, well demonstrating its resilience. CALC is one of the four core enterprises of China Everbright Limited, and we will provide strong support for its continued expansion along the aviation value chain as we have always done, and facilitate it to emerge as a world leading full value chain aircraft solutions provider.” China’s domestic flights recover to pre-Covid-19 levels China's domestic flight activity recovered to pre-Covid-19 levels during August, although international flights stayed weak, according to figures from domestic flight data provider Variflight. There was an average of nearly 12,000 domestic flights a day in August, 95pc of year-earlier levels. Flight numbers were up by 13pc from July. China to restart direct flights to Beijing from eight countries China will begin allowing direct flights to Beijing from eight countries from 3 September reported Flightglobal. Flights from Thailand, Cambodia, Pakistan, Greece, Denmark, Austria, Sweden and Canada will be “restored to Beijing”, the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) said in a statement. EU and China agreement on aviation standards comes into force A regulatory agreement between the EU and China has come into effect that makes it easier for European and Chinese aviation manufacturers to gain product approvals for aircraft and their components. The Bilateral Aviation Safety Agreement (BASA) was agreed in May 2019 and came into force on September 1 between the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) and the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC). Finnair re-opens operations to Nanjing for September and October with a weekly frequency Finnair has received permission from Chinese authorities to operate one weekly flight between Helsinki and Nanjing as of 11 September. The route will be operated with Airbus A350 aircraft until 18 October, and it supports cargo and passenger travel demand between Europe and China. Finnair Chief Commercial Officer Ole Orvér said “We are happy to be able to serve another destination in China, which continues to be a key market for us. In September we are flying to Mainland China (Shanghai and Nanjing) two times per week and look forward to further increasing our service to the Chinese market soonest.” Xiamen Aircraft Leasing secures A330-200 Sale and Lease Back deal with China Southern Airlines Xiamen Aircraft Leasing (Xiamen Airlease) announced that it has successfully concluded a sale and lease back agreement with China Southern Airlines, consisting of 3 A330-200 Aircraft. Mr Duan Xiaoge, COO of Xiamen Airlease stated  “Even during these times of market un-certainty Xiamen Airlease has demonstrated that it has the technical and financial capability to analyse and support such a transaction, which marks the first wide-body operating lease for our expanding company.  We are extremely proud to have concluded this transaction with China Southern and look forward to completing more transactions in the future Acumen Aviation © 8 September 2020 All Rights Reserved.