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Aviation History
1985
1985 - 0022.PDF
All change atCAAC F rom its relatively modest beginnings one and a half years ago, Aviation Expo/China '84 grew into some thing of a major event which many West ern manufacturers decided was, after all, worth taking seriously. The reason for this can be traced to one very significant factor—the decen tralisation of national airline CAAC (Civil Aircraft Administration of China), and the consequent forming of a large number of regional airlines, each of which will need aircraft in the near future. CAAC was formed in 1949, soon after the found ing of the People's Republic of China. Since then the airline has grown consid erably, its duties encompassing passenger transport, on both national and inter national routes, resource development and survey work, air traffic control, main tenance, and training. In short, CAAC's responsibilities have, until now, covered just about every field of civil aviation. These will all now become separate, autonomous activities, which means that a considerable need for new ground-based equipment is also likely. When passenger services began, 35 years ago, the airline's inventory comprised piston-powered aircraft such as the DC-3, 11-12, 11-14 and C-46. Route expansion meant updating the fleet with turboprops, leading to purchases of Viscounts, Convair CV-240s, and Il-18s. Today the airline is mainly jet equipped, types including the Trident (purchased from Hawker Siddeley in the early 1970s), 11-62, Boeing 707, 737 and 747, and, recently, the MD-80. The routes and passengers flown by these aircraft have increased from a total of 12 in 1950, when 10,000 passengers were carried, to 203 domestic and inter national routes in 1983, when 3,910,000 passengers flew the airline. CAAC's network now serves 22 cities in 18 coun tries. It is also proud of the fact that its aircraft have taken off and landed at 191 airports in 98 countries. The sheer size of CAAC and the diversity of its operations has inevitably meant that the "airline" has become somewhat monolithic, as a result of which it has come in for a good deal of criticism from all quarters for inefficiency and interdepartmental wrangling. This even tually led to the recent Central Govern ment edict calling for devolution of CAAC's duties into separate, well defined areas of responsibility. The breakup of the state airline will dramatically change the course of aviation in China. Exactly how the new autono mous units will operate is still unclear, but total decision-making freedom is unlikely at this early stage. CAAC is, certainly reluctant to yield control of its vast empire, and is likely to remain in charge of policy and planning for a while—if only because many of the top management of the new units will be old CAAC men. ^^?i^ CAAC's traffic has grown dramatically since the airline was formed in 1949 949 1952 1957 19621965 1970 1975 19801983 Four new airlines will be formed which will take care of major domestic and inter national traffic. These are: Air China, based in Beijing and initially responsible for all international routes; China Eastern Airways, centred in Shanghai; Guangzou (formerly Canton)-based China Southern Airlines, and China Southwestern Airlines, operating out of Chengdu. The last three named will be domestic-only airlines to begin with, but are expected to expand, eventually offering inter national services as well. There is clearly no infrastructure as yet enabling four supposedly autonomous airlines to serve the large number of planned destinations efficiently. It will be interesting to see whether this will all be fixed beforehand, or whether a system will be allowed to develop through natural market forces. One thing, though, is certain—the near-term demand for aircraft. Air China, for example, is expected to want three or four Boeing 747s, which will be added to those already in the CAAC fleet. The other airlines will probably be more interested in smaller widebodies, such as the A310, Boeing 767, or MD-11X. The decentralisation story does not end here. A number of smaller regional airlines have also sprung up, or are about to. These will serve the remoter parts of China (which is as big in area as the. USA), feeding traffic into and out of the big cities and special economic zones. A large number of commuter aircraft span ning the 40-150-seat range will be needed, and competition among Western manu facturers is, of course, intense. Aero spatiale and Aeritalia are already making big efforts to market "several dozen" ATR42s under a co-production arrange ment, and British Aerospace has high hopes for BAel46 sales. Another important deal still being negotiated involves licence manufacture of either the Boeing 737-300 or McDonnell Douglas MD-80. Pricing will be a crucial element of all these deals. It looks as if CAAC, having relin quished its long-established hold on air transport in China, is set to become a purely regulatory body and administrative organ, something like a combined US Federal Aviation Administration and Civil Aeronautics Board. In this role, CAAC would indeed be the Civil Aircraft Administration of China. t Towards the end of the Beijing show ecame clear that purchases of new and used aircraft needed by the regional airlines now appearing will be con ducted by a central buying authority, namely the China Aviation Supplies Corp (CASC). Speaking at the show, deputy manager of CASC Li Daxing said that China has a "desperate" need for more aircraft and plans to buy seven or eight secondhand machines between March and August next year. Some of these are likely to be aircraft which will have to be with drawn from the US fleet when the new noise regulations are implemented on January 1. Purchase decisions will remain the responsibility of the various regionals, said Li Daxing, as will the responsibility for arranging financing. The new airlines will also attend all CASC meetings in which purchase negotiations are carried out. CAAC's fixed-wing fleet (July 1984) Aircraft Boeing 747SP (JT9D-7J) Boeing 747-200 Combi (JT9D-7R) Boeing 737-200 (JT8D-17AC Boeing 707 (JT3D-7) McDonnell Douglas DC9-80 (JT8D-217) Trident (Spey Mk512) 11-62 (HK-8-4) 11-18 (An29-K) An-24 Numbers 4 1 5 10 2 22 5 10 29 20 * Three more 737200s and two 737-300s are being delivered. FLIGHT International, 5 January 1985
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