CHINA: Hainan Airlines Sells Its Building For US$190M

Hainan Airlines, the largest civilian-run air transport company in China, says it has sold its wholly-owned subsidiary, Beijing Guosheng Property Management Co. Ltd., in a deal worth 1.299 billion yuan (US$190 million).

According to the report, 100% of the equity will be transferred to the Beijing Houpu Yunde Investment Management Partnership, which is 99.99% held by Beijing Vanke Enterprise Limited Company, a wholly-owned subsidiary of real estate giant Vanke Group.

The target company, Beijing Guosheng, was newly established by Hainan Airlines in July this year, having an estimated value of 1.739 billion yuan. Its main asset is the Beijing Hainan Airlines Building.

Hainan Airlines is part of HNA Group’s Aviation & Tourism arm. It is not unusual for HNA Group to sell off assets. The Chinese conglomerate sold its original headquarters, Wanghai Science and Technology Plaza, to Sunac China in August.

Meanwhile, Jinjiang International confirmed that it would acquire a 100% stake in the Radisson Hotel Group from HNA Group.

Hainan Airlines Co., Ltd. is an airline headquartered in Haikou, Hainan, People's Republic of China. It is the largest civilian-run air transport company, the fourth-largest airline in terms of fleet size in the People's Republic of China, and tenth-largest airline in Asia in terms of passengers carried.

It operates scheduled domestic and international services on 500 routes from Hainan and nine locations on the mainland, as well as charter services. Its main base is Haikou Meilan International Airport, with a hub at Beijing Capital International Airport and several focus cities.

Hainan Airlines was established in October 1989 as Hainan Province Airlines in Hainan, the largest special economic zone in China. Hainan Province Airlines became China's first joint-stock air-transport company following a restructuring in January 1993 and began scheduled services on 2 May 1993.

The initial 250 million yuan (US$31.25 million) was financed by the Hainan government (5.33%) and the corporate staff (20%). The rest came from institutional shareholders. In 1996, the provincial airline was renamed Hainan Airlines.

American Aviation LLC, controlled by George Soros, had been a major shareholder of the airline since 1995.

Executive-jet operations with a Bombardier Learjet 55 were added in April 1995. In 1998, Hainan Airlines became the first Chinese carrier to own shares in an airport after it purchased 25% stake of Haikou Meilan International Airport.

In 2000, HNA Group was established and became the third largest shareholder (7.31%) of Hainan Airlines. It also controlled Shanxi Airlines, Chang An Airlines and China Xinhua Airlines. By 2003 Hainan, the main airline, overtook Chang'an as the fourth largest airline in China.

In 2007 Grand China Air was established as the new holding company, when American Aviation became its subsidiary.

On 29 September 2005, HNA Group ordered 42 Boeing 787-8s, 10 of which were earmarked for the Hainan Airlines fleet. In January 2006, China Aviation Supplies Import and Export Group Corporation ordered 10 Boeing 737–800s for Hainan Airlines.

In September 2006, Hainan Airlines ordered another 15 Boeing 737-800s.

On 4 December 2007, Hainan Airlines acquired three Airbus A340-600s on lease from International Lease Finance Corporation. On 14 November 2007, Hainan Airlines received its first Airbus A330-200.

In June 2007, Hainan Airlines ordered 13 Airbus A320-200 aircraft. In late 2007, Hainan Airlines ordered 50 Embraer ERJ-145s and 50 Embraer 190s, with a total value at list price of $2.7 billion USD.

The 50-seat ERJ-145s were produced by the Harbin Embraer Aircraft Industry (HEAI) joint venture, located in Harbin. E-190 deliveries began in December 2007. Due to the global financial crisis and huge losses incurred in 2008, the ERJ-145 order was reduced to 25. The E-190 order remained unchanged.

On 25 March 2015, Hainan Airlines announced its intention to acquire 30 Boeing 787-9s, which are all to join the Hainan Airlines Fleet. The delivery of the aircraft is scheduled to be completed by 2021.

Two leased Boeing 787-9 aircraft were delivered in Spring 2016. Hainan Airlines will also be among the first operators of the COMAC C919, with deliveries beginning in the 2020s.

Hainan Airlines and the HNA Group have their headquarters in the HNA Building in Haikou, Hainan with other office premises HNA Tower in focused cities including Beijing, Chongqing, Guangzhou and Shanghai.

It was previously headquartered in the HNA Development Building a.k.a. the Haihang Development Building along Haixiu Road in Haikou.

As of 31 December 2016, Grand China Air is the direct parent company of Hainan Airlines (24.33% shares directly; an additional 1.29% shares via a subsidiary American Aviation LDC), which was partially owned by Hainan Development Holdings (24.97%), HNA Group (23.11%), Starstep (9.57%), Haikou Meilan International Airport (8.30%), Shenhua Group (5.56%) and other shareholders.

HNA Group owned 3.53% shares directly and via Changjiang Leasing, owned an additional 3.08% shares as the second largest shareholder. Haikou Meilan International Airport was the third largest shareholder for 5.13% shares.

Moreover, HNA Group also owned Haikou Meilan International Airport partially, as well as Hainan Airlines as cross ownership. A private equity fund that was managed by Shanghai Pudong Development Bank, owned 4.91% shares as the fourth largest shareholder.

Hainan Airlines operates several self-owned airport lounges at its main hub and focus cities including Beijing (T1 HNA Exclusive Terminal), Haikou, Xi'an, Guangzhou and Urumqi.

In addition, the airline will soon open its exclusive international departure lounge at its main international hub Beijing International Airport Terminal 2. The airline also operates an exclusive Transit Lounge for transferring HNA Group passengers at Beijing Airport Non-restricted area.

Hainan Airlines's frequent-flyer program is called Fortune Wings Club. The airlines's subsidiaries Hong Kong Airlines, Lucky Air, Tianjin Airlines, Beijing Capital Airlines, Fuzhou Airlines and parent company Grand China Air are also parts of the program.

It is also possible for passengers to collect miles on Alaska Airlines, Etihad Airways and the airlines which have codeshares with Hainan Airlines.

Members can earn miles on flights as well as through consumption with Hainan Airlines's credit card. When enough miles are collected, members can be upgraded to Elite members which are divided into four tiers: Fortune Wings Platinum membership, Gold membership, Silver membership, and Flying Card membership. Elite membership get extra services.

Hainan Airlines is one of eleven airlines worldwide rated as five-star by Skytrax, along with All Nippon Airways, Asiana Airlines, Cathay Pacific, Etihad Airways, EVA Air, Garuda Indonesia, Japan Airlines, Lufthansa, Qatar Airways, and Singapore Airlines.

Hainan Airlines operates seven bases across China: Beijing–Capital, Guangzhou, Haikou, Hangzhou, Sanya, Shenzhen and Xi'an. It operates an extensive network across the People's Republic of China, connecting Asia, Europe, North America and Oceania.

It serves nearly 500 domestic and international routes and flies to more than 90 cities.

Hainan operates international regular flights and offers charter flights to 41 various destinations in 21 countries such as flights from Beijing to Almaty, Toronto, Berlin, Brussels, Seattle/Tacoma, St. Petersburg, Moscow, Tel Aviv, Chicago, Las Vegas, San Jose/Silicon Valley and Boston; Beijing, Xi'an, Dalian, Guangzhou, Haikou to Taipei; Beijing, Haikou, Nanning to Bangkok; Hefei via Haikou to Singapore and others.

Hainan also received official approval from the US DOT to begin nonstop flights between Beijing and Chicago. As of June 2014, Hainan began servicing Boston directly with a four-times-weekly 787 flight from Beijing Capital International Airport.

It was the first direct flight between Boston and China. The airline began service in the second quarter of 2013 with the Boeing 787 Dreamliner aircraft. It was the first Chinese carrier to offer flights between the two cities. Flights from Beijing-Capital to Chicago-O'Hare began on 3 September 2013.

On 23 October 2015, Hainan announced flights to Manchester, United Kingdom, starting in summer 2016. Hainan announced the launch of a direct route between Beijing and Calgary, Canada, as of 30 June 2016.

During the second half of 2017, Hainan Airlines began flights from Shanghai to Tel Aviv and restarted flights from Shanghai to Brussels. In late September 2017 Hainan Airlines commenced direct flights to and from Brisbane, Australia, several times per week, and also to Belgrade, Serbia, via Prague, every Monday and Friday.

On 8 March 2018, Hainan Airlines announced flights between Changsha and London Heathrow, commencing 23 March 2018 and on 15 March 2018, they announced round trip flights between Beijing–Capital, Dublin, and Edinburgh commencing 12 June 2018

Hainan Airlines codeshares with the following airlines:

- Aegean Airlines

- Aigle Azur

- Air Serbia

- Alitalia

- Alaska Airlines

- American Airlines

- Azul Brazilian Airlines

- Beijing Capital Airlines

- Brussels Airlines

- Czech Airlines

- Etihad Airways

- EVA Air

- Grand China Air

- GX Airlines

- Hong Kong Airlines

- Korean Air

- S7 Airlines

- Suparna Airlines

- Tianjin Airlines

- Uni Air

- WestJet

- Virgin Australia

Hainan Airlines fleet consists of the following aircraft:

- Airbus A330-200: 09 Aircrafts

- Airbus A330-300: 20 Aircrafts

- Airbus A350-900: 02 Aircrafts

- Boeing 737-700: 02 Aircrafts

- Boeing 737-800: 155 Aircrafts

- Boeing 737 MAX 8: 10 Aircrafts

- Boeing 787-8: 10 Aircrafts

- Boeing 787-9: 25 Aircrafts

- Total: 233: Aircrafts


Tourism Observer

MACAU: Beijing Capital Airlines Damaged At Macau Airport As It Landed

On 28 August, a Capital Airlines Airbus A320 (B-6952) suffered severe damage on nose gear and left hand engine during a hard landing at Macau Airport.

Flight JD5759 was scheduled from Beijing International Airport to Macau but during the approach – the weather at Macau at the time of landing consisted of rain and wind with gusts up to 30 knots – the aircraft hit the runway very hard.

One of the gears that got detached, hit the left hand engine.

Due to the failure of the communication system and a lack of satellite phone, the aircraft was communicating with the ground using the ACARS onboard.

After declaring an emergency (Mayday), the pilots entered a holding pattern Northeast from the airport and then decided to divert to Shenzhen Airport.

On approach the pilots first did a low pass over the field for a visual check on the landing gears.

Beijing Capital Airlines confirmed the accident, in total, there were 166 passengers and 9 crew members on board.

After the landing at Shenzhen Airport an emergency evacuation was initiated, five of the passengers were slightly injured, most likely during the emergency evacuation.

On Sunday, another company Airbus A320 aircraft had a decompression, forcing the pilots to descend rapidly.



Tourism Observer

CAMBODIA: China To Surpus Vietnam In Supplying Tourists To Cambodia

Cambodia Association of Travel Agents says China will soon overtake Vietnam as the main source of the country’s tourists.

But there are major concerns over capacity management and how the country’s tourist industry will cope with the shortage of Chinese speaking guides.

The association president, Chhay Sivlin, says that the strengthening of relations between Cambodia and China and the government’s strategy to promote more Chinese tourist arrivals, will accelerate tourist arrivals over the next two years.

A flood of cheap Chinese tours could swamp popular tourist destinations especially in Siem Reap, the main tourist destinations, famed for Angkor Wat a World Heritage site.

But the dominant thread in tourism announcements, made by the private sector and government, is the underlying pressure to reach numerical targets that could compromise the quality of the travel experience and the environment.

The preoccupation is with expansion and catching up with neighbors. The main drivers are airlines that serve the destination from China, many of them offering cheap charter flights that bring in low-revenue package tours.

“Ministry of Tourism still needs to increase direct flights in order to reach the country’s target of welcoming 7 million tourists by 2020, including 2 million Chinese visitors,” he said.

Meanwhile, China came in second with 830,003 visits increasing 19.5% from 694,712 visits, according to Ministry of Tourism’s Statistics and Tourist Information Department figure.

In 2016, 13 airlines launched direct flights from different destinations in the region to Cambodia. The majority of the airlines are from China followed by Japan and Thailand.

Chinese airlines increasing flights, last year, included Hainan Airlines, Lucky Air, Tianjin Airlines, Spring Airlines and Beijing Capital Airlines.

Many opportunities for Cambodian tourism companies, more and more Chinese spend their holiday in their country, and they are becoming more and more rich and like to spend their money.

In 2013, China has overtaken South Korea to become the 2nd largest tourist source to Cambodia, with 305 500 visitors, up 47%, up according to the data from the Cambodian Ministry of Tourism.

Vietnam remained topped the chart among the top ten tourist arrivals to Cambodia with 584,800 tourists during the January-August period this year, up 12 percent year-on- year.

It added that during the first 8months of 2013, Cambodia has received a total of 2.77 million foreign tourists, up 19 % every year.

The minister said the country has set a target to attract between 1.5 million and 2 million Chinese tourists by 2020.

Chinese are rich now, more and more Chinese have been visiting abroad every year.

Close ties between Cambodia and China is an essential base to attract more Chinese to Cambodia.

Excellent ties between the two countries and improving Cambodian tourism quality and services will encourage more Chinese to this Southeast Asia nation in coming years.

Cambodian Minister of Tourism Thong Khon attributed the rise of Chinese traveller to attractive sites such as the Angkor Wat temple, a World Heritage Site, the beautiful coastline, like one of the top most Beautiful Bays.

Cambodia’s Angkor Wat temples, one of the world heritage sites. This Buddhist temple complex in Cambodia and the largest religious monument in the world and attracted 1.57 million foreign travellers in the first nine of the year, +6% compared with the same period in a year earlier.

During the January-September period this year, the monument welcomed 201,000 Chinese, +60 %.

“China is leading the growth of tourists to the site this year thanks to Cambodia-China excellent ties, broader promotion of the Angkor to the world, and more direct flight connection between Cambodia and China,” Chhoeuy Chhorn, administration chief of the Siem Reap provincial tourism department said.

Last year, the temples attracted 2.06 million foreign visitors, up 28 percent year-on-year.

Shopping

Chinese tourists use to do a lot of Shopping and purchase gifts, and local products.

Entertainement

They also like entertainement and will eat local food, sing in KTV and go to bars. They enjoy massage, and local SPA beauty services.

Hotels
You still have a lot of travellers with low budget, but more and more rich Chinese Business men travel in Cambodia and like nice hotels.

Internet
80% of Chinese people will search information online before their travel , and 66% will use Internet to book flight, hotel and prepare their trip.

You will find a lot of usefull information on many websites about Cambodia, and users’ experiences.
Look this for example

About 830,000 Chinese tourists visited Cambodia in 2016, a 19.5-percent rise year-on-year, according to a Cambodian Tourism Ministry report on Thursday.

Chinese holidaymakers accounted for 16.6 percent of the 5 million international tourists traveling to the Southeast Asian country last year, the report said.

It added that China ranked the second largest source of tourists to Cambodia after Vietnam, whose 959,600 people visited the kingdom last year, down 2.8 percent year-on-year.

Cambodia targets 2 million Chinese tourists by 2020.

Last year, the country launched a white paper which listed steps to be taken by tourism authorities to facilitate visits by Chinese tourists, such as providing Chinese signage and documents for visa processing, encouraging local use of the Chinese yuan currency, encouraging the use of Chinese language, and ensuring that food and accommodation facilities are suited to Chinese tastes.

Cambodia is famous for the 12th century Angkor Archeological Park in northwestern Siem Reap province. Besides, it has a 450-km pristine coastline stretching across four provinces in the country's southwestern part.

Tourism Minister Thong Khon estimated last month that tourism industry earned gross revenue of more than 3 billion U.S. dollars in 2016, accounting for 13 percent of the country's Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

CANADA: Beijing Capital Airlines Begins Thrice Weekly Service Between Vancouver And Hangzhou, Via Qingdao

Beijing Capital Airlines has launched new thrice weekly service between Vancouver and Hangzhou, via Qingdao, giving Canadians easy access to two key hubs in China.

The new service, which launched on Jan. 6, between YVR and Hangzhou Xiaoshan International Airport (HGH) via Qingdao Liuting International Airport (TAO) is flown on an Airbus 330, with seating for 22 passengers, including 36 in Business and 186 in Economy. Capital Airlines is the sixth mainland Chinese carrier to service YVR – two more than any other airport in North America or Europe.

“I would like to thank Capital Airlines for choosing YVR as its first North American destination,” said Craig Richmond, YVR’s President and CEO. “This new service opens up two amazing new Chinese destinations for all of Canada and is another key milestone in our vision of connecting Asia to the Americas.”

Added Mr. Xu Xin, Chairman of Capital Airlines: “The new Vancouver–Qingdao–Hangzhou route will provide more choices and convenience for travellers and will further strengthen economic and cultural ties between Canada and China. Capital Airlines strives to be a leading brand in the international tourism and air travel industry and we are looking forward to working with YVR.”

In addition to strengthening business and tourism opportunities between China and Canada, this route will have a positive impact on the local economy. The new service brings 123 jobs and $6.2 million in GDP to the province of British Columbia and will add $4.2 million in wages and $2.3 million in taxes.

Located in the central eastern coast of China, Hangzhou is among the country’s seven most ancient cities and is famous for West Lake, a UNESCO World Heritage Site that has had a profound impact on poets, painters and designers throughout Chinese history. Qingdao, located in northeast China, is a major seaport and industrial centre. In addition to hosting the world’s longest sea bridge, Qingdao is well-known for its diverse economy focused on heavy industry, software, automotive, electronics and banking—and the famous Tsingtao Brewery, the second largest in China.

CHINA: Beijing Capital Airlines targets UK, Australia

Beijing Capital Airlines, the Chinese airline that recently entered the long-haul market, is planning to launch its first flights to the UK and Australia.

According to a statement on the website of the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC), the airline has applied for the permission to launch scheduled services to Birmingham and Melbourne next year.

If approved, the Birmingham service will commence in April 2016, operating twice a week – once from Beijing and once from Hangzhou. The Melbourne route meanwhile, would operate three times a week direct from Qingdao, a port city in Shandong province. All three routes are new city pairs.

Beijing Capital Airlines plans to deploy its 222-seat Airbus A330 aircraft on the routes, configured with 36 seats in business class and 186 in economy.

Previously a domestic and short-haul airline, Beijing Capital launched its first ever long-haul services to Copenhagen in September 2015, connecting the Danish capital with Beijing and Hangzhou. It is also planning to fly to Madrid in December.

The carrier, which is owned by the HNA Group, will take delivery of over 30 new twin-aisle aircraft by end of 2020.

CHINA; Passenger Tries To Open Emergency Door

A plane passenger who tried to open an emergency exit door while the craft was mid-flight has been detained by Chinese police.

A flight security officer noticed the woman trying to open the door while the Capital Airlines plane was enroute from Changsha in Hunan province to Sanya in Hainan on Monday afternoon.

When he stopped the woman she threatened to commit suicide and two other passengers then came to her aid.

A scuffle then broke out between the security officer and the three passengers, zgjtb.com, a news portal under the Ministry of Transport, cited a microblogger as saying.

But flight attendants came to the aid of the security officer and helped him to subdue the trio and alert airport police.

“It’s really not an easy job to be flight crew, especially when facing the daredevils,” the microblogger, RogerStandy, said. “Fortunately knives are banned on flights.”

The flight landed safely in Sanya at around 2pm.

The woman, who was in her 20s, and “other relevant individuals” were handed over to Sanya airport police, who were investigating, Beijing Capital Airlines said.

The incident follows a series of cases in which mainland Chinese passengers have attempted to open the emergency doors of aircraft.

In one such case, a passenger on a flight from Hangzhou (to Chengdu ), triggered a safety scare by yanking open an emergency exit just minutes before a plane was due to take off to “get some fresh air”.

Another passenger, flying from Urumqi to Zhengzhou, managed to open an emergency exit shortly after a plane had landed, though he later explained that he had been nervous during the landing and thought the handle was a handrail that he could grab onto for support, according to China News Service.

In the first five months of 2015, the Civil Aviation Administration of China dealt with 12 cases in which Chinese air passengers had tried to open emergency exit doors.

In May, a passenger in Yanji in northeastern Jilin province was criminally charged for endangering public safety. He is allegedly opened an emergency door before take-off, delaying the flight more than four hours.

CHINA: Beijing Capital Airlines Adds New International Routes From Sanya In W15

Beijing Capital Airlines this month is introducing a number new International flights from Sanya, with flights to Vietnam and Thailand. Planned operation for these new routes as follow.

eff 19DEC15 Sanya – Cam Ranh/Nha Trang 2 weekly
JD331 SYX0600 – 0615CXR 320 26
JD332 CXR0715 – 0910SYX 320 26

eff 21DEC15 Sanya – Phuket 3 weekly
JD357 SYX0135 – 0400HKT 320 4
JD357 SYX2220 – 0030+1HKT 320 1
JD357 SYX2335 – 0220+1HKT 320 5

JD358 HKT0130 – 0530SYX 320 2
JD358 HKT0320 – 0710SYX 320 6
JD358 HKT0500 – 0855SYX 320 4

eff 27DEC15 Sanya – Da Nang 2 weekly
JD381 SYX2300 – 2315DAD 320 37
JD382 DAD0015 – 0225SYX 320 14