China’s recently appointed acting director of its civil aviation administration, Li Jiaxiang, has expressed concern about the future of the country’s domestic cargo airlines who he says are losing market share oninternational routes.
In 2000, domestic carriers had a 44 per cent share in the international cargo market but the figure droppedto 18 per cent last year.
The percentage of passenger transport on international routes has also declined, from 56 per cent in 2000 to44 per cent last year.
"There is a danger that China’s cargo airlines are being marginalised in the world air cargo market," he saidaccording to a China Daily report.
The General Administration of Civil Aviation of China (CAAC) in 2002 set the goal that the country should develop a strong civil aviation industry by 2020. The short-term goal for 2010 is to have 1,550 planes and 190 airports, handling 270 million passengers and 5.2 million tonnesof cargo.
Last year, the industry transported 185 million passengers and 3.6 million tonnes of cargo. With everything going according to plan, the industry reaped a profit of 17 billion yuan(US$2.4 billion).
But much of this can be attributed to a combination of fuel surcharges, exchange rate gains and the fact the domestic market is protected from competition from international carriers,Li said.
Li, former general manager of China National Aviation Holding Co, told a recent working conference that emerging as a strong power in civilaviation must be the key goal for the CAAC this year, and specific targets and indexes will be mapped out toreach that goal.
Chinese cargo airlines still lag far behind the giants in the industry with China owning only 50 cargo planesin 2007.
Compared with logistics giants such as FedEx and UPS, domestic cargo carriers lack a widespread network and ability to convince international shippers that they, too, can deliver ontime, he said.
The two companies’ international air hubs in Shanghai and Guangzhou respectively will come into operation this year and once they establish their ground transportation networks they will be even stronger competitors, Liwarned the domestic players.
Li has also encouraged domestic airlines to launch more long-distance flights to Europe and North America and raise internationalmarket share.
Li also said the arrival of the new Boeing 787 and Airbus 380 is a good opportunity for Chinese airlines tolaunch more international flights.
