Air China

Air China Ltd is the People's Republic of China's state-owned and second-largest commercial airline after China Southern Airlines. Its logo consists of a phoenix in the form of the acronym VIP, and "Air China" in both English and Chinese, which was autographed by Deng Xiaoping. It operates 5,090 flights each week worldwide and is the 18th largest airline in the world by fleet size. Air China is also the world's largest carrier by market capitalisation. It has its headquarters in the Tianzhu Airport Industrial Zone in Shunyi District, Beijing.

Air China

Air China's main hubs are Beijing Capital International Airport, Chengdu Shuangliu International Airport and Shanghai Pudong International Airport, with other focus cities at Hangzhou Xiaoshan International Airport, Chongqing Jiangbei International Airport, Tianjin Binhai International Airport and Hohhot Baita International Airport. Air China currently flies to approximately 120 destinations; the most destinations from its own Beijing hub.

The airline flew 41.28 million passengers in 2009, with a passenger load factor of 76.53%. Results improved with an increase of 14.23% from 36.14 million in 2008. It's turnover was recorded to be 51.39 RMB, which was a decrease of 2.86% from 2008.

It is the 5th largest airline in Asia, 5th largest in the world in terms of domestic cargo traffic and 18th largest airline in the world in terms of fleet size.

Operations
Air China operates in four segments:

Airline Operations segment, which comprises the provision of air passenger and air cargo services;
Engineering Services segment, providing aircraft engineering services, such as aircraft maintenance, repair and overhaul services;
Airport Terminal Services segment, offering ground services that include check-in services, boarding services, premium class lounge services, ramp services, luggage handling services, loading and unloading services, cabin cleaning and transit services,
Others segment, which comprises the provision of air catering services and other airline-related services.

Destinations

An Air China Airbus A330-200 in Star Alliance livery, landing at Vancouver International Airport
Air China terminal (Beijing Hub) at Beijing Capital International Airport on a day of hazy smog (background)Main article: Air China destinations
Air China's route network extends throughout the Asia-Pacific to the Middle East, Africa, Europe, South America, and North America. The majority of the routes operate from its Beijing hub.

It currently operates a significant number of Asia-Pacific and European destinations from Shanghai Pudong International Airport. It also has some international routes operating and connecting from Chengdu Shuangliu International Airport, Chongqing Jiangbei International Airport, Dalian Zhoushuizi International Airport, Dubai International Airport, Hangzhou Xiaoshan International Airport, Kunming Wujiaba International Airport, Madrid Barajas Airport, Nanning Wuxu International Airport and Xiamen Gaoqi International Airport.

Air China has upgraded many of these routes to larger aircraft during 2008/2009: Beijing-Delhi to A340 from 767-300ER, Beijing-Dubai to A330-200 from 767-200ER, Beijing-Chengdu-Karachi to 757 from A319 with new routing replacing Urumqi stopover and Beijing-Stockholm to A330-200 from 767-200ER.

On December 10, 2006, the airline made its first flight to Sao Paulo (via Madrid), which became its first South American destination. This was the airline's longest direct flight. The service began with the Boeing 767-300 aircraft but because of its popularity, the service has been upgraded to A330-200.

Routes to Australia, Frankfurt, Madrid currently operated by Airbus A330-200 may be replaced by Boeing 787 Dreamliners. The Boeing 787 Dreamliners will also be used on flights to Toronto and Washington, D.C. once launched.

Air China is launching many flights to European destinations, as it believes these services will become very popular in the coming years. The airline has already stated they are happy to make losses on these routes at first, hoping that Air China will increase its penetration into this market and become a premier choice for passengers flying from Europe to China.

Cargo and passenger service expansion plans
Air China is looking at the United States for international cargo and passenger service expansion. A June 17, 2008 St. Louis Beacon reported that Air China planned to establish a cargo hub at Lambert St. Louis International Airport. The United States Department of Commerce allowed expansion of the foreign trade zone near Lambert airport on February 13, 2009.,

Author/Editor By : Athena

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