Things are changing: Accept it
 

Some of you gents who seem to be a little uneasy about China's aviation dominance of the local region should give a little thought to the following.

As one drives from the airport into the NEW Chinese city of Jiuquan (satellite launch pad in the Gobi desert) on the right hand side just before entering the city there is a large sign written in red that says in both Chinese and English "Without Fear; Without Haste; We conquer the World."
Nothing bragging about this eye catching sign, it just stands there for all to ponder. Think about this.

Prince of Dzun

They haven't even conquered their own airspace yet.

Actually they have.

They have a couple of north south airways
We can maybe use.. Maybe with only an hr
Or two delay.

Otherwise they own it and are not budging

I don't suppose you have a picture of the sign.

If you do can you post it to Obama & all western leaders so they can wke up and get their fingers out!

:{

Another slogan of comunist propaganda. Old habits die hard.

Those who believe that are in for a big surprise in not so distant a future.

That slogan didn't work so well for Germany or Japan... :hmm:

Master Caution;

I dont have a photograph of the sign and I'm at a bit of a loss as to how to get one. I dont know anyone who goes to Jiuquan and I dont know anyone who lives there. !! China Eastern and Shanghai Airlines operate to Jiuquan so perhaps, just perhaps a crew member might take a snap of it and put it up here for all on Pprune to see. I'm interested in the wording of the Chinese characters and to see if they really correspond accurately to the English version.
If one could find out when the next big satellite is due to blast off it might be worth the effort to visit Jiuquan but apart from that it's a long way to go just for a photograph.

Prince of Dzun.

Prince:

Good point, the english and chinese often don't match!:\

I guess, in the past, Cathay had a cozy set-up in HKG, and that was reflected in pilots T's&C's. Then along came Dragonair, and although I'm no expert on Dragonairs early payscales I'm willing to bet they were somewhat lower than Cathay's.

Cathay's answer to the Dragonair 'low cost' model was to buy it out (after spending a while cutting the T's&C's of Cathay pilots, with moderate success).

Now there is a new threat on the horizon, in the shape of HKA.
A company with Chinese Mainland backing, and we are in a whole new era in Hong Kong - The Post Brit era.

There's no doubt that T's&C's at HKA are way lower than at Cathay.
Can Cathay management realistically hope to cut their pilots T's&C's to that level? Quite a challenge, given the limited success before, and the ripples of discontent that still propogate from that war.

Can Cathay instead just buyout HKA, like they did to Dragon?
I think not.
We are now in the PB era, and HKA is 100% Mainland owned. No amount of money is going to undermine this political project. Swire will be bled dry first.

Look at it from China's point of view. In the PB era, why do they need a load of Brits owning the 'National Carrier' of Hong Kong?
Even the name - Cathay. It harks back to a quaint time when Britain was the world superpower. What relevance has the name 'Cathay' to the modern Chinese? Nothing, but a loathsome reminder of the time when China was on its knees before the europeans.

And what is that marking on the Cathay aircraft tail? The Swoosh I believe it's called? What is it's relevance to Hong Kong?
I suppose it could be considered faintly Chinese? A representation of a brush stroke, the type of brush used to write traditional Chinese characters.
Duh??

On the other hand, the national flower of Hong Kong is the Bauhinia.
The tail art of the HKA aircraft is representative of the bauhinia.
It is also represented on the national flag of Hong Kong!
HKA's call-sign is 'Bauhinia'.
So you would not be far wrong in saying HKA has positioned itself as the Flag Carrier of Hong Kong.

Hong Kong Airlines MEANS what it says.
It means to be The Airline of Hong Kong.

But who will work for these low T's&C's at HKA? HKG is an expensive place to live!

Well, one only has to look at the demographic in HKA today.
The largest group of expat pilots are the Phillipino's.
Hong Kong is only 1 hours commute from Manila - you could practically live there and commute to work. Perhaps they will in future!
Phillipino's don't mind roughing it in HKG. They rent an apartment and then share it.
The money, while not Cathay spectacular - is very good by Philipine standards. More than enough.
And there is no shortage of Philipine pilots who will grab the chance of a job at an expaanding carrier in Hong Kong. Their own company has effectively given them an ultimatum to sign a new contract or resign.

Yes, the times they are a'changin'.
You ain't seen nothin' yet baby.....

Correct. It is the accident and incident rate that will attract the most attention though. As a race the Chinese are very superstitious, maybe they will prefer to stick with what they have got?

Now there you may have a point.
But have a look up North.
What happens when a bullet train crashes?
They find somebody to blame - give that guy the chop (perhaps literally), make a few superficial announcements about changes, then say 'its all been fixed' and carry on regardless.

Tell me I'm wrong.

HAHAH
LOL, funniest post i have read in ages, esp the phillipino pilots ! and the mainlanders running it ! good luck.....
p.s they never got a man in space it was propogandaa...:D

Spoken like a true Brit.

Well, for yer info - t'aint the Mainlanders runnin' it.
They just write the cheques.

A bunch of Singaporeans run it for them.
And they have every faith in the Philipinos.

Pinoy pilots working in Hong Kong ? Not surprising at all. There are now over 120,000 Pinays working in Hong Kong as domestic maids and this number once peaked at 200,000 just a few years ago ...
Filipino maid challenges HK rule denying residency | World | DAWN.COM
... they might as well stay for good and take over all the local jobs.

Some of you gents who seem a little uneasy about American dominance of the world should give a little thought to the following.

The Chinese actually got the idea from big billboards outside American military bases.
"Pardon our noise.. It is a sound of FREEDOM" on one side of the billboard and the American flag waving proudly on the other half of the sign.

Nothing bragging about these eye catching signs, they just stand there for all to ponder. Think about this.

Algol, the tail marking is known as the 'brushwing' (the 'swoosh' belongs to Nike). It replaced the 'cucumber sandwich' on the tail and I understand it was created by a local Chinese designer.

The more irreverent among us would call it the 'skidmark'.

parabellum;

I'm a little surprized at what you have just said about accidents and incidents considering you an ex Singapore Airlines expatriate Captain. Have you forgotten that your old airline is rated the best airline in the world and that it is run 99% exclusively by Chinese. Jumpa lagi nanti.

Prince of Dzun.

sing airlines
 

"best airline in the world" - really in what terms? It's a gov. airline so that speaks for itself and lets not mention the safety record- or have you forgotten TPE RWY 05 a few years ago? Actually it wasn't a runway but a taxyway.

...not to mention the SQ A340 which turned into a momentarily ballistic object over Australia when the crew turned hydraulic pumps off to balance fuel :hmm:. (That's why the push buttons are now guarded.) 'Air pocket' I think the press release said.

Also SQ 747 severe tail strike in AKL, due to grossly incorrect RTOW input, then cocked up approach and go-round. They nearly lost the jet. And of course the dreadful error in Taipei.

The 'Singapore Girl', albeit a little tired these days, is still a good marketing ploy but the safety record isn't exemplary.

so if there are delays now what happens when the new south Beijing airport comes online 6 years hence ?
Beijing's new airport expects inaugural flight in 2017 - China.org.cn

meanwhile Guangzhou will be on its 5th runway and Shenzhen's third.
and I am sure (not) that the chinese military that controls all the airspace around PRD will be happy to hand extra slots to CX/ KA ?

1/2 Foxconn has already abandoned PRD and moved to near where the new south Beijing airport will be and the other half Foxconn left to Chongqing (from where China is building a railway line that will reach Europe in 14 days transit.)