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[crewsunite]

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Air China still climbing after its best quarter
Charlotte So
Apr 24, 2010

Air China (SEHK: 0753 (http://www.scmp.com/portal/site/SCMP/template.PAGE/page.company_profile/?companyId=0753.HK&s=business&ss=scmpIR), announcements (http://www.scmp.com/portal/site/SCMP/template.PAGE/page.company_profile/?companyId=0753.HK&s=business&ss=scmpIR#investor_relation), news (http://www.scmp.com/portal/site/SCMP/template.PAGE/page.company_profile/?companyId=0753.HK&s=business&ss=scmpIR#news)) has bounced back from the economic crisis with its best quarterly result ever, reporting 2.17 billion yuan (HK$2.47 billion) net profit, up more than 100 per cent year on year. The airline said net profit grew 121 per cent in the first quarter, lifted by growth in domestic passenger traffic and a turnaround in international traffic and cargo business.

The result eclipsed the previous peak set in the third quarter of 2007.
Air China reported a better than expected full-year net profit of 4.85 billion yuan last year, up from a net loss of 9.26 yuan a year earlier.
Operating revenue in the first quarter rose 31 per cent from a year earlier to 14.70 billion yuan, lifted by a 15 per cent rise in passengers and a 51 per cent increase in cargo traffic.
The growth in mainland air traffic demand gathered pace in March. The number of air passengers grew 20 per cent year-on-year nationwide last month, outstripping the 14 per cent jump in the first two months.
Citigroup has predicted that the World Expo in Shanghai starting in May will add seven million to 10 million passengers for the mainland carriers, or 20 per cent to 25 per cent growth.
"We believe it may push up airfares close to full prices and trigger massive earnings upgrades on the street," the report said.
Mainland carriers have in the past suffered from price wars due to aircraft over-capacity, with airlines slashing prices by as much as 80 per cent during the low season. Since the percentage of seats sold, or the so-called load factor, rose among the carriers in 2009, they could start to restore ticket prices.
Air China, for example, saw its passenger load factor increase nearly three percentage points to 78.6 per cent in the first quarter from a year earlier. Domestic routes, which topped the other routes, registered an 81.9 per cent load factor.
The airline's air cargo business continued to grow strongly in the first quarter as the demand for high-end products from Europe and the United States remained high. Air China Cargo posted 51 per cent growth in cargo traffic to 1.04 billion tonne kilometres. The robust demand also lifted the cargo load factor by 11.63 percentage points to 57.64 per cent.
Industry experts say charter rates for a Boeing 747 freighter in Shanghai has surged to US$800,000 per trip, even higher than the US$700,000 charter rate in Hong Kong. Air China shares fell 1.3 per cent to HK$8.3 yesterday.

[goathead]

Do Liars Make Better Leaders?
Published: Monday, 3 May 2010 | 11:55 AM ET Text Size
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Powerful liars.

Leaders with scant regard for any kind of ethical code.

We all have our own favorite examples of corrupt leaders, and they can be found in almost every sector of society—from the corporate world to the political realm to the guy in charge of your kid's Little League.



Wherever you look, you find evidence that proves the maxim: "power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely."

But is it as easy as that?

Is there a chicken/egg question that we're missing here? To wit: is it power that causes otherwise honest men and women (although, let's face it—it's usually men) to lie and act unethically, or do unethical liars simply do a better job at climbing the ladder?

One recent study confirms that those in positions of power are much better at lying than those in relatively powerless positions.

Consider the following quotes from an article discussing the results of the study:

“Power, it seems, enhances the same emotional, cognitive, and physiological systems that lie-telling depletes. People with power enjoy positive emotions, increases in cognitive function, and physiological resilience such as lower levels of the stress hormone cortisol. Thus, holding power over others might make it easier for people to tell lies.”

And:

“Low-power individuals showed the expected emotional, cognitive, physiological, and behavioral signs of deception; in contrast, powerful people demonstrated no evidence of lying across emotion, cognition, physiology, or behavior,” the study found. “In other words, power acted as a buffer allowing the powerful to lie significantly more easily ... and more effectively. Only low-power individuals felt badly after lying.”

Reading that, it would be very easy to conclude that power does corrupt absolutely. But here's the thing: the study also found that "[p]ower did not shift participants' sense of morality. All believed lying was wrong," and the study found "no differences" in terms of moral sense between liars and truth tellers at either end of the power scale.



So to sum up: power enables people with the propensity for immoral behavior (lying) to do so more easily, but it doesn't shift their sense of morality (people who believe something is wrong will continue to do so even in a position of power).

Which suggests that those individuals we keep reading about after their high-profile falls from grace—the Madoffs and Blagojeviches of the world—were the result of power magnifying the effects of moral compasses that were already skewed.

The most striking finding of the study is that being in a position of power—even a false one created for the purposes of testing—creates a "stress buffer" that allows people to do things, both positive and negative, without feeling the same effects as those without power. Thus, risk-taking, public speaking and, yes, lying, all become easier.


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There are many questions for businesses to consider from such results: first (and perhaps most important) is whether it's possible to identify people likely to abuse power before you hand it to them.

Second, companies may also want to consider ways to limit their leaders from feeling like they have a great deal of power—whether through increased accountability measures or other means. And, finally, companies should also consider the trade-off: while limiting someone's sense of power may make sense in curbing potential bad behavior, it may also limit their willingness to take on risk and ultimately impact their ability to effect change and success.

[crewsunite]

Three more freighters rejoin Cathay fleet

Rebound in air cargo demand sees call-up of parked aircraft for Chek Lap Kok


Charlotte So
Apr 28, 2010 em to raise rates,&quot; he said. &quot;The price is so fluid that when we finally talk our client into agreeing a new rate, it has already gone up.&quot;<P>" type="hidden">




The better-than-expected rebound in air cargo demand has prompted Cathay Pacific (SEHK: 0293 (http://www.scmp.com/portal/site/SCMP/template.PAGE/page.company_profile/?companyId=0293.HK&s=business&ss=scmpIR)) to put three more mothballed freighters back into service in the summer.The aircraft would return from desert storage sites in the United States in June and July, which had been laid up during the downturn, Rupert Hogg, cargo director of Cathay, said. "Their return to operations will be gradual and phased in during the second half of 2010, preferably to coincide with the seasonal peak from Hong Kong," he said.

The carrier parked five freighters last year. Two were returned to service earlier this year to release two aircraft for transfer to the Air China (SEHK: 0753 (http://www.scmp.com/portal/site/SCMP/template.PAGE/page.company_profile/?companyId=0753.HK&s=business&ss=scmpIR), announcements (http://www.scmp.com/portal/site/SCMP/template.PAGE/page.company_profile/?companyId=0753.HK&s=business&ss=scmpIR#investor_relation), news (http://www.scmp.com/portal/site/SCMP/template.PAGE/page.company_profile/?companyId=0753.HK&s=business&ss=scmpIR#news)) Cargo joint venture. "The market outlook remains broadly positive with robust demand on the major trade lanes to North America and Europe," Hogg said.
Cathay will take delivery of six B747-8Fs next year while transferring two more freighters to the cargo venture. Other carriers including Cargolux, a Luxembourg-based outfit, and Finnair, a Helsinki-based airline, has already boosted or have plans to increase their freighter capacity in Hong Kong. From next month, Finnair will operate a twice weekly freighter service between the city and Helsinki by deploying an MD-11 freighter with an 80 tonne capacity.
Hong Kong Air Cargo Terminal Ltd, the largest cargo terminal in Chek Lap Kok, reported a record daily tonnage on April 23 of over 10,000.
Charter rates surged to US$700,000 in Hong Kong and US$800,000 in Shanghai last week as exporters became desperate to clear backed-up shipments caused by the blanket shutdown of European air space due to volcanic ash.
Even with freighter services back to normal this week, charter rates for a Boeing 747-200 freighter still stood at above US$500,000 per flight, compared with US$300,000 during the normal low season. The shortage of charter flights has intensified as Shanghai shippers are edging out Hong Kong shippers by offering higher prices.
"The prospect for the year is very promising and we suspect there will be no low season throughout the year," said Paul Tsui Hon-yan, chairman of the Hong Kong Association of Freight Forwarding and Logistics. The buoyant demand for air cargo also has been affected by a structural change in manufacturing on the mainland.
"Manufacturers have to start to outsource part of the production to the factories in rural areas where labour is more abundant," Kelly King, managing director of Toll Global Forwarding (HK) said. However, labourers in the mainland's inner regions of are less skilful and produce more defective goods which need extra time to repair. As a result, some shipments would fail to meet deadlines if shipped by sea, he said.
More shipments may not mean more profits, King said. "Airlines are deploying most of their new capacity to charter services in a bid to control the capacity and create more leeway for them to raise rates," he said. "The price is so fluid that when we finally talk our client into agreeing a new rate, it has already gone up."

[crewsunite]

One round-trip Cathay Pacific (SEHK: 0293 (http://www.scmp.com/portal/site/SCMP/template.PAGE/page.company_profile/?companyId=0293.HK&s=business&ss=scmpIR)) economy-class air ticket to Johnannesburg during the soccer World Cup can cost as much as HK$31,240. But a ticket to view one World Cup game in live, stereoscopic 3-D in cinemas, which promise to let audiences watch games for the first time "as if they are at the pitch", will cost a tiny fraction of that.

[crewsunite]

More firms increase salaries, bonuses

Average 1.7pc pay rise as outlook brightens


Paggie Leung
May 11, 2010

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Salaries have begun to creep up again after dropping last year in the wake of the financial crisis.Pay rises averaging 1.7 per cent were awarded by some companies in January, according to a survey by the Hong Kong Institute of Human Resource Management.

This compares with a 0.5 per cent increase at the same time last year and a reduction of 0.6 per cent for the full year.
"Employees can finally get a bigger pay increase this year, [with] adjustment growth returned to the pace seen in 2005," Lai Kam-tong, a co-chairman of the institute's remuneration committee, said.
Salaries rose for five consecutive years from 2004, the year after the dramatic economic slump caused by the Sars epidemic, to almost 4 per cent in 2008, but fell again last year.
In the poll of 125 companies, the institute found 30 firms, employing about 37,500 people, adjusted wages in January. The rest froze their employees' pay but there were no reductions.
The survey also found that nearly two-thirds of the employees in those 30 firms would get higher pay this year, up from one-fifth a year earlier.
"Data shows that employers in general are more optimistic about the future business environment. Better pay increments may also help companies compete for and retain high-quality talent," Lai said.
Companies in the construction sector were the most generous, up by 3.2 per cent, followed by banking and manufacturing, at 2.9 per cent and 2.5 per cent respectively.
But unlike last year, which saw 45 firms adjust their pay at the beginning of the year, Lai believed more employers postponed their adjustment to last month because they were uncertain about the economy.
Thirty companies also gave non-guaranteed bonuses this year, with almost 94 per cent of staff getting amounts averaging about 1.17 months of base pay. Last year, 93.2 per cent of eligible employees got a bonus of 1.08 months.
A further 38 companies offered a guaranteed bonus policy for employees and the bonus size was about 1.01 months of their basic salary this year, which was similar to figures in previous years, Lai said.
Lawrence Hung Yu-yun, another co-chairman of the institute's remuneration committee, said: "We are happy to see that companies posting a good business performance last year are willing to share fruitful results with their employees."
The organisation said that as the city's economic situation was improving, more job opportunities were available and employees would have higher expectations for a bigger pay cheque.
"A flexible and fair incentive system can help motivate employees to drive business success whether in good or bad times," Hung said.
"Employers have to set effective reward strategies and should be able to walk the talk as regards rewarding and recognising outstanding individuals who make a significant contribution to business success."