China Eastern Airlines (CEA) is expected to receive a further CNY2 billion (US$294 million) capital injection from the Chinese government to help the struggling carrier survive. This follows an earlier CNY7 billion hand-out from Beijing at the end of 2008 but did little to relieve its debt burden of CNY83.7 billion as of 31 March which amounted to a debt ratio of 115 per cent. Industry pundits have speculated the bailout money is meant to pave the way for the long-talked about merger with Shanghai Airlines. “Our biggest problem is insolvency. We would have gone bankrupt if we hadn’t received [the] capital injection,” CEA board secretary Luo Zhuping noted.