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China to tighten security at more than 20 airportsTuesday, 8th July 2008 ~ Chris ~ Link ~ Comments (0)
Travelers seeking to take advantage of the recent low air ticket prices for many domestic flights in China may want to consider arriving at the airport a little earlier than normal after July 20. The Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) announced yesterday that beginning July 20, travelers passing through more than 20 mainland airports will be subjected to an additional layer of security checks before boarding their flights. In addition to security checks before entering airport waiting halls, there will also be new security checkpoints immediately prior to boarding. Unsurprisingly, the official reasoning behind the tightening of airport security is Olympics-related. According to a China Daily report: "The special measure is aimed at raising the security level at the airports and preventing anyone from carrying explosives, inflammables or other materials that can be used to disrupt the Beijing Olympic Games, the CAAC said." "Suspects will have to go through thorough security checks, and people caught carrying such materials will be dealt with strictly in accordance with the law." Airports which will implement the secondary security checkpoints include Beijing Capital International Airport, Shanghai's Pudong and Hongqiao airports, plus airports in Qingdao, Tianjin, Shenyang, Qinhuangdao, Shijiazhuang, Taiyuan, Jinan, Hangzhou, Nanjing, Hefei, Changchun, Harbin, Dalian and Hohhot. Furthermore, all civilian airports in the restive regions of Tibet and Xinjiang will also add the new security checks. Although Kunming Wujiaba International Airport is not on the list, it is quite likely that security will tighten noticeably in the runup to and during the Olympics. Image: news.anhuinews.com Related article: China's domestic travel slump = cheap domestic flights Tags: aviation, CAAC, Olympics, security, travel Shui On Land leading investment in Yunnan's tourism industryMonday, 7th July 2008 ~ Chris ~ Link ~ Comments (0)The group of eleven is led by HK-listed Shui On Land (瑞安房地产), best known for being developers of the Xintiandi and Corporate Avenue project in Shanghai. Total investment by Shui On Land in Yunnan this year is expected to reach 48 billion, more than the other 10 companies combined. In December 2007, Shui On signed a cooperation agreement with the provincial government – today it is working on four major projects in Kunming, Dali, Lijiang and Diqing. Smart Hero Group (骏豪集团), another Hong Kong developer, will invest more than 25 billion yuan in the city of Chengjiang, 70 kilometers southeast of Kunming. The project, located at the Sun Mountain International Ecological Tourism and Leisure Holdiday Area, will commence construction in September. Smart Hero has existing tourism and hospitality projects in the cities of Xiamen, Sanya and Chongqing. Smart Hero's investment in Chengjiang is indicative of a larger trend in Yunnan – in addition to established tourist cities such as Kunming, Lijiang, Dali and Shangri-la, smaller cities and lesser-known areas in Yunnan are beginning to attract larger amounts of investment. Other examples include Pu'er and Yangzonghai. Related article: Property giant Shui On moving into Yunnan Tags: Chengjiang, Chuxiong, Dali, Diqing, Lijiang, Shangri-la, Shui On Land, Smart Hero Group, tourism, travel, Xintiandi China's domestic travel slump = cheap summer flightsTuesday, 1st July 2008 ~ Chris ~ Link ~ Comments (1)
Despite the start of the summer travel season and the Beijing Olympics only 37 days away, domestic travel in China appears to have dropped drastically from the same time last year. According to the Sydney-based Centre for Asia-Pacific Aviation, air travel in May dropped 3.3 percent - the largest such drop since the SARS epidemic in 2003. One indicator of how big a hit China's travel industry has already taken is the widespread discounting of air tickets, which usually rise in price during the summer travel season. According to a CCTV.com report: "There's been a decrease in the number of air travelers. And ticket prices to some of the most popular tourist attractions have been cut dramatically. These tickets used to be hard to get, selling quite well during the same period last year." The CCTV report quoted travel agent Wang Yili, who suggested that the Beijing Olympics – which many thought would boost tourism in China before, during and after the Olympics – are the reason that people are deciding to skip out on summer travel. "The current situation is quite different from that of last year. Because of the Olympic Games people prefer staying at home to watch TV to going out to travel." GoKunming called our travel agent, and prices for flights out of Kunming to other parts of China are much lower than usual for this time of the year. We enquired about several popular flights and found that there were tickets to Shenzhen on Friday, July 4 available at a 40 percent discount, coming to 940 yuan, tax included – a rather inexpensive price for this time of year. A one-way ticket to Shanghai this Friday, which last January was nearly the full ticket price of 1,900 yuan, can be found for as little as 870 yuan, tax included. Some tickets for Friday flights to Beijing are as low as 740 yuan and a seat on the short flight to Chengdu is selling as low as 410 yuan. In related news, Kunming media is reporting that the first chartered flights from Kunming to Taiwan will be departing in the middle of July. The price for a 10-day trip touring around the island will run around 10,000 yuan. Image: news.jlonline.com Related article: China's visa policy affecting international tourism Tags: aviation, Olympics, travel Kunming's new international airport – which upon completion is projected to be China's fourth largest airport – is in search of foreign investment of US$400 million to fund its development, according to a China Knowledge article published on Monday. Restrictions on foreign investment in China's airports were recently relaxed from a limit of 35 percent to 49 percent. The report stated that Macquarie, Goldman Sachs and Singapore's Changi Airport had expressed interest in investing in Kunming's new airport, which is expected to greatly increase the city's access to international destinations via direct flights to Europe, Australia, the Americas and elsewhere in Asia. The airport will be developed by Yunnan Airport Group. The new airport's first two runways are scheduled for completion sometime next year and will be able to handle 25 million passengers yearly, compared to the current capacity of 20 million at Kunming Wujiaba International Airport, which will reportedly remain operational until 2010. Related articles: UK's Arup lands Kunming airport deal Kunming to build China's 4th-largest airport Tags: air travel, Changi Airport, Goldman Sachs, Kunming Wujiaba Airport, Macquarie, new airport, travel, Yunnan Airport Group
Northwest Yunnan's Diqing Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture – closed to international tourists since the beginning of the recent riots in Lhasa – has reopened to foreign travelers after nearly a month of being off-limits, according to a Xinhua report citing Cering Norbu, the prefecture's deputy secretary general. Diqing contains popular tourist destinations including Shangri-la (previously known as Zhongdian) and Deqin. More than 3.8 million tourists visited the prefecture in 2007, including 400,000 international travelers. Tags: Cering Norbu, Deqin, Diqing, Lhasa riots, Shangri-la, travel, Zhongdian China Eastern fires Yunnan management over pilot demonstrationTuesday, 8th April 2008 ~ Chris ~ Link ~ Comments (1)According to the report, all pilots from the total of 21 affected flights have been suspended from their jobs. An internal investigation by China Eastern and a probe by aviation regulator Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) are both currently underway. China Eastern released a statement yesterday saying that two high-ranking officials in the company's Yunnan subsidiary have been fired and a deputy general manager from the company's Shanghai headquarters has been named head of the branch, where he will investigate the reason for the rare demonstration. The China Daily report said the reason for the mid-air pilot strike was related to grievances related to low pay for pilots of feeder routes such as those within Yunnan as well as overtime and night shift-related issues. But a report last week on China.org.cn attributed the disrupted flights to pilot anger regarding restrictive contracts aimed at preventing poaching by other airlines: Pilots in state-owned companies have been forced to sign 99-year contracts with their employers. If they quit, they must pay compensation ranging from 700,000 to 2.1 million yuan. While China Eastern and CAAC investigate the incidents of last week, passengers on the disrupted flights continue to seek compensation. China Eastern said it has compensated some of the passengers and will eventually compensate all of those affected. Related article: China Eastern officials, pilots meet after Kunming protest Tags: China Eastern Airlines, pilot strike, travel China Eastern officials, pilots meet after Kunming protestFriday, 4th April 2008 ~ Chris ~ Link ~ Comments (0)
China Eastern Airlines and its Yunnan subsidiary held an emergency meeting this week regarding what appears to be an organized protest by the airline's pilots in Kunming. On Monday, 14 planes leaving Kunming for destinations elsewhere in Yunnan turned back, with pilots citing bad weather as the reason, despite normal weather conditions at all the airports in question. Officials from China Eastern's Shanghai headquarters and its Yunnan subsidiary met with 50 pilot representatives in Kunming on Wednesday for closed-door talks that lasted more than three hours, according to Kunming media reports. According to some Chinese media reports, the pilots involved are facing lifetime bans from flying on the mainland. The apparent strike is the third major protest by pilots in China in the last month. On March 14, 40 Shanghai Airlines pilots called in sick. On March 28, 11 pilots from East Star Airline in Wuhan requested sick leave. China's aviation industry is currently expanding flights so quickly that the supply of pilots cannot keep pace. According to a report on the website China.org.cn, the problem is expected to intensify in the coming years: In 2004, when China's first private airline, Okay Airways, was founded, China had about 10,000 pilots flying 700 airplanes. Private capital has since poured into the industry. By 2010, China expects to have 1,250 domestic commercial jets, which will require at least 6,500 more pilots. Domestic aviation schools train only 600 to 800 pilots each year, so private companies have frequently been forced to headhunt for more pilots. The short supply of pilots has led to state-owned airlines including China Eastern to force their pilots – who are not allowed to form labor unions – to sign 99-year contracts under which a pilot must pay its employer compensation ranging from 700,000 to 2.1 million yuan if they quit, the report said. Several lawsuits have been filed by disgruntled pilots in the last two years, but none have made it to court. Image: clzg.cn Related article: Security tightening at Kunming's airport Tags: China Eastern Airlines, pilot strike, travel With much of the city's traffic in disarray, travelers leaving Kunming via Kunming Wujiaba International Airport have needed to allow some extra time for their journey to the airport. Now that the airport has tightened security – especially with regards to liquids – it is advisable to give yourself even more time. According to Kunming media reports more than 60 percent of passengers going through the airport's security check have had their bags searched recently. The increase in security at the airport – which previously had been quite lax – has reportedly led to many travelers missing their flights. The recent tightening of security comes after Chinese media reported a foiled hijacking of an Urumqi-Beijing flight last week, which quickly and mysteriously disappeared from Chinese media. On an unrelated note, Indian media is reporting that a China Eastern flight from Kolkata to Kunming this weekend had to dump its fuel and make an emergency landing when the plane's landing gear failed to retract after takeoff. Tags: China Eastern Airlines, Kolkata, Kunming Wujiaba International Airport, security, terrorism, travel Next 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 |
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