Wow, what is it with China Eastern Airlines? First their passengers staged a sit-in at the LAX in Los Angeles and now they actually started throwing fists at Beijing International Airport... all gloriously documented by security cams.
When it comes to flights to, from and inside China, it seems everyone has a China Eastern horror story. This one might top it all. things got so bad on this particular flight from Los Angeles to Shanghai that the passengers staged a sit-in.
China Eastern's chairman Li Fenghua (李丰华) has been replaced by Liu Shaoyong (刘绍勇), chairman of rival China Southern Airlines in what's been described as a "government-orchestrated industry shake-up". There is no news on where Li Fenghua is off to next but we're curious because this was the guy that had earlier bitterly vowed that China Eastern would "never consider Air China as a strategic investor" after Air China blocked Singapore Airline's proposed HK$7 billion bid for a 24% stake in China Eastern. The management shakeup has piqued the interest of the Chinese business press. Some have speculated that Li is moving on to some new position in the State Council but this remains quite unlikely. As an anonymous insider revealed to the Securities Daily 《证券日报》, Li presided over China Eastern's worst performance ever, and bears some responsibility for losses of up to RMB5 billion in fuel-hedging. For that, Li may be sent off to "idle" at some work unit for some time before being "audited and reviewed" for his performance.
Shanghai-based China Eastern airlines has announced that it will increase its flights to Taipie from 3 times weekly to daily beginning next Monday. Also, whereas previously all flights had to bypass Hong Kong airspace, now flights are all going direct, ie., you can now get to Taipei in a little over an hour and for less than what you used to pay for! This is truly historic. A quick check with Elong.com indicate roundtrip flights to cost approximately RMB2100 plus tax of about RMB658.
Air China, China Eastern and China Southern have dispatched special charter flights to bring home stranded Chinese tourists caught in Bangkok during the recent anti-government protests there.
"Today Beijing took baby steps in that direction by opening for debate a draft proposal to reform the country’s troubled health care system, reduce the profit motive for public institutions and make health care available to all, according to state news agency Xinhua."
"Coca-Cola Co plans to seek approval under China's antitrust law for its $2.5 billion bid for top domestic juice maker Huiyuan, the final obstacle to what would be the largest foreign takeover of a local firm."
If you've been looking to fly to Europe for that much-needed break, ladies and gentlemen, that time is now. Air fares to Europe are at all-time lows and have never been cheaper in the six years that we've been here. Lufthansa leads the pack with the eye-popping offer of a return flight to Germany from Beijing at RMB3,760 and from Shanghai at RMB4,880. Air France has the very special web deal of a return tic to the UK from both Beijing and Shanghai from RMB4,040. KLM is also flying to the UK from RMB4,040 and elsewhere in Europe via Amsterdam from RMB4,470. In the meanwhile, new kid on the block Air Berlin flies direct from Shanghai to a host of destinations in German-speaking Europe including Berlin, Hamburg, Duesseldorf, Nuremberg, Stuttgart, Munich, Vienna and Zurich. We found a one-way ticket to Duesseldorf for about EUR300 (incl. taxes) — not a bad price at all, if you're not thinking of coming back to Shanghai that is!
After a successful month running at reduced capacity, the new Terminal 2 at Pudong Airport took another 18 airlines under its wing today.
The idea is simple: get five internationally reknowned directors to make short, impressionistic films about Beijing, showing the people of Beijing in their everyday lives and as they prepare for the Olympics—and in the kindest light possible. The five filmmakers were: Patrice Leconte (France), Andrew Lau (Hong Kong/China), Majid Majidi (Iran), Giuseppe Tornatore (Italy), and Daryl Goodrich (UK). You can find a rundown of each film's style and content as well as a link to each one.Whatever their differences in style and subject matter, they are all undeniably and unforgivably cheesy, like postcards of moving images. They remind us of those insipid China Eastern Airlines commercials—except worse—because you have to take into account that these were made by men (not a woman in the bunch) that have, at some point in their lives, made films that were actually fit for human consumption.There's a little voice inside our head that tells us that no one likes the guy that takes things a bit too seriously and can't see the light-hearted side of things—it's the Olympics after all, and Pollyannish is to be expected, Olympic-colored balloons can and should rise and form the Olympic rings in the azure sky. At the same time, there was another little voice in our head that it's also okay for us to slightly downgrade our respect for directors, renowned or not, that strew this kind of filmic excrement over our collective sidewalk. These artists are kinda sucking CCP cock, aren't they? Okay, we know this ain't Cannes, and that it might be considered an honor by some to be allowed to make promotional films for the Olympic Games. But seriously, is banality the new language of ideology? Please, show us more people striking on drums and practicing tai-chi in the park. And throw in some cute little Chinese kids while you're at it. Sorry, < /end_rant_here >. We'll start taking our meds again, we promise.
Photo from gruntzooki
Xinhua: British PM visits Shanghai
77% of China Eastern shareholders have voted against Singapore Airline's proposed HK$7 billion bid for a 24% stake in it. Disappointed by the results of the vote, China Eastern chairman Li Fenghua has vowed not to ally with Air China:
"We will never consider Air China as a strategic investor. The most important thing is not the price. The most important thing is to improve China Eastern Airlines' brand and management."Continue reading "China Eastern vote update"
Looks like the much talked-about HK$7 billion bid by Singapore Airlines and its parent Temasek Holdings for a 24% stake in Shanghai's loss-making and debt-laden China Eastern Airlines may not happen just yet. Blocking the bid is its arch-rival and shareholder, Air China, as well as its parent China National Aviation Corp. (CNAC), which has now upped the ante by saying it would bid no less than HK$5 per share if shareholders vote against Singapore Airlines' HK$3.8 offer.
Air transport AFP: Air China, Shanghai Airlines join Star Alliance XFN: China Eastern says partnership with Singapore Airlines, Temasek 'only option' AFP: Singapore Airlines says won't raise China Eastern bid Finance Reuters: U.S. says China recognises need for stronger yuan NYT: Little Headway With China on Finance FT: Beijing lectures US on effect of weak dollar Drugs, drugs and drugs AP: China Shuts Down Leukemia Drug Maker Xinhua: China issues new drug recall method...
With 20 million Muslims around China, it is only in recent years that they have been able to go on the yearly pilgrimage to Mecca, Islam's holiest city, in substantial numbers. Thanks to rising affluence, growing numbers of Chinese Muslims are now able to fulfill their spiritual obligations of performing the Haj at least once in their lifetime, and this year, a record 10,700 of them are expected to do so. Five departure ports...
China confirms presence of toxic substance in bead toys [Economic Times] China's quality control watch dog has confirmed that the bead toys which the US and Australia have recalled in millions over safety fears contain toxic substance. US sees no rapid shift in China's currency reserves [AFP] Amid a plunging US dollar, China has again threatened to diversify its mountain of dollar foreign reserves but US officials are unperturbed while experts do not see a...
Okay, Shanghaiist has got several hundred blogs on his RSS that he scans through everyday. Some things scream at us, others are quickly forgotten and yet others are hidden in some corner of our brain for (mostly useless) information ready to be used at some future point in time. There are all these bloggers that you've never met personally that you can form an impression of only after a long period of reading their blogs. You're reading them every single day, and sometimes it almost feels as though they're your friend, even though you don't really know them. It's most surreal.
Cathay Pacific and Air China's parent company abandoned an attempt to block Singapore Airlines from buying a stake in China Eastern, as the battle for the lucrative Chinese market heats up.
Singapore’s Temasek Holdings and Singapore Airline’s joint bid for a 24 percent stake of China Eastern Airline finally received its blessing from Beijing last week. The deal valued CEA at HK$3.80 per share. China Eastern’s Hong Kong listing after a three month halt resumed trading earlier today and promptly doubled from HK$ 3.73 to HK$ 7.50 before paring back to settle around HK$ 6.90 in the afternoon. Today’s surge in gave the two new investors an instant HK$5.84 billion profit on paper, about USD $750 million. Not bad for a day’s work! Shares of all four major Chinese airlines (the other three are Air China, China Southern and Hainan Air) traded on the domestic exchange rallied 10 percent on the news, the maximum daily limit allowed under local rules. In related news, the Shanghai Composite Index closed at another a record high, up 102 points, or 2 percent, at 5321.
Not content with making cars and computers for the world, China is now on to its next big thing -- aircraft. The long-awaited ARJ-21 (pictured here) is China's very first homegrown commercial aircraft and has been launched amid much fanfare by the aircraft maker AVIC I. Now only a name is lacking, and if you can come up with a creative Chinese name of between two and four Chinese characters before September 28, RMB50,000 will be yours! (Sorry apparently English names are worth nothing).
Shanghaiist is somewhat of a frequent flyer to Beijing, and because he isn't employed by some big multinational but rather runs his own little business, he can only afford to put himself on cattle class and often has to scour the internet for the cheapest available deals. We especially love this nifty little function on eLong.com which shows you the cheapest available flight within a week of your selected departure date. That has worked to our advantage in the past because we have relatively flexible schedules, and we have flown to Beijing for as low as RMB530 (that's RMB400 for the ticket and RMB130 for miscellaneous taxes) on Hainan Airlines.
The last time we heard from Air China, it was hit by an embarrassing spate of accidents. Not so long afterwards, it announced an order for 15 units of the new Boeing 767 Dreamliner. This time, Air China has proclaimed its ambitions to grow its market share in Beijing from the existing 44% up to 50%.
Photo from ojour.
Even while Shanghaiist is waiting with bated breath for direct flights to the east coast, China Eastern Airlines is set to sell a 25 percent stake to Singapore Airlines, the world's largest carrier by market capitalisation, for HK$7.9 billion (US$1 billion) worth of new shares. In the meanwhile, Temasek Holdings Pte, Singapore's state-owned investment arm with $85 billion of assets, may join Singapore Airlines in its bid for a stake. China Eastern suffered a net loss of 2.8 billion yuan in 2006, thereby gaining the dubious honour of becoming the only one of China's three state-owned airlines to report a loss last year. Whatever it is, one can only hope this means better inflight service, better food, fewer delays and fewer cancellations for passengers.
62 year old Guangzhou man is New York City's Sad Panda
China: Nine nations in one?
Midweek Music Preview: Free tickets to Au Revoir Simone, Gaslamp Killer
Electrolist: Berlin 8-bit retroblaster tonight
Interview: Rich Medina funks up the Shelter
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