Since Hong Kong's Cathay Pacific Airways proclaimed its
intentions to temporarily give up speculation together with Air
China, the mainland's flagship carrier, to acquire China Eastern
Airlines at the end of Sept., many reports have been released about
Air China's other acquisitions. On Oct. 12, a news report quoted
sources from the Center for Asian Pacific Aviation (CAPA) as saying
that Cathay Pacific Airways is viewing Shenzhen Airlines as a
potential speculation target.
The news report presented several reasons for the possible
acquisition by Cathay Pacific: Firstly, the Chief Executive of Hong
Kong Special Administrative Region, Donald Tsang, announced
recently a series of measures aimed at closing the ties between HK
and the Pearl River Delta, an area of 11,000 sq km that includes
several thriving cities in Guangdong Province. These measures would
help boost the air transportation in the Pan-Pearl River Delta;
secondly, Cathay Pacific experienced a setback when buying a stake
in China Eastern Airlines; thirdly, Cathay Pacific and Air China
have cross-shareholdings, and meanwhile, Air China holds 25 percent
share of Shenzhen Airlines. Finally, a railway line is expected to
be built to link the two airports of Shenzhen and HK, causing
exchanges between the two cities to become rather busier.
The Shanghai-based China Business News tried to confirm
the news with Li Kun, president and vice chairman of the board of
Shenzhen Airlines yesterday. He remained noncommittal and said that
he hadn't heard anything. The newspaper then contacted Cathy
Pacific for a response, but nobody answered the phone.
For more details, please read the full story in Chinese (
http://www.china-cbn.com/s/n/000004/20071017/020000057745.shtml).
(China.org.cn October 17, 2007)
