China purges airline of jet lag

Press, 2 September 1980, Page 22

China purges airline of jet lag

By

IAN

(NZPA-Reuter).

PEKING^—The Chinese airline CAAC, which still uses the abacus and hand-written chits for passenger reservations, has started a major management purge in -an effort to modernise its operations and make it a paying concern.

Informed - sources claim that the purge is aimed primarily at air force officers who have been running the airline for years, but who had failed to keep up with the jet age. A front-page; editorial in the “People’s Daily”, strongly criticised the airline (the: Civil Aviation Administration of China) * for, poor service and inefficiency which ? had lowered the country’s, prestige in foreign eyes. - The official communist party newspaper said China had made? great progress in the past 30 years in terms of aircraft, numbers) passenger, and cargo capacity, routes, special services, and airport construction. “But there are still a lot of problems to solve .. relating to business principles, the managerial system, technical equipment, and the quality of service,’’ the;,.editorial said.

The backward'management situation at CAAC was related to the “direct interference and sabotage of the gang of four radical leaders,”. who were purged from state power in October 1976, and also. poor guidance and management in civil aviation matters. However, CAAC had made a profit last year, proving that “an enterprise

becomes: vigorous and fuff of life as soon as it is run by economic methods.” Foreign aviation sources said CAAC can go so far; in-clearing .up its own backyard, but government : policy decisions were also involved. The airline, for. example, is obliged by the government to fly Chinese on internal and foreign routes at greatly subsidised rates. However, foreigners have to pay more than double the fare for Chinese. (This double rate also applies on Chinese railways: foreigners have had to pay 75 per cent more than the Chinese fare since early this year.) This policy places CAAC in a difficult situation: on the one hand being obliged to subsidise travel for Chinese, while on the other, being expected to make money while faced with international prices for such things as aircraft, fuel, and foreign landing fees. The pressure on the airline to make money is also affecting its relations with foreign airlines serving China. CAAC is driving very hard bargains to protect itself and prevent a major percentage of route profits from going

to foreign airlines with better-known names arid much superior efficiency and service. - Some 'airline sources, for example, cite instances in which CAAC — the sole ticket agent in China —. has vir- ’ tually refused . to . book passengers on .to foreign airlines,. forcing them to fly with the Chinese carrier. . C A AC’s desire to extract as much money as possible from international routes is still holding up-an agreement With.' British Airways (BA) to ser>/e Peking, while government-to-govemmerit negotiations with the United States have algo hit turbulent weather. ’ ’ Problems between China and the United States include the number of United States carriers to serve China, and a system by which a relatively even split of profits would be ensured, no matter which airline , was making or losing money. The latter provision will inevitably favour CAAC because of its present poor reputation as an airline. <- J.

It has: in fact taken some steps towards improving its image. Its foreign aircraft include Boeing 7075, new special-performance Boeing 7475, and Soviet Ilyushin-62s for long-distance and international flights, and British Tridents for internal services.

The airline’s flight attendants have

abandoned shapeless shirts and baggy pants for chic blue-and-white uniforms, and the big aluminium kettles filled with warm orange soda have been replaced by coffee pots. But the airline is still perhaps best summed up by the words of the i. stewardess on a flight from Urumqi, in China’s far west. After asking passengers to hand over any guns, explosives, and radio-active material, she added: “ . . . and we hope you have a safe flight.” -

A new 7475 P (special performance) jumbo jet destined for China’s airline, C.A.A.C., awaiting delivery at the Everett factory of the Boeing Company near Seattle last week. The Pekingbased airline is building up its fleet of large Boeings and has several more on order. Taiwan’s