1.China Eastern Airlines after Gulf War ||  and SARS

"China Eastern Airline did not have much effect due to the war. We suffered a lot due to SARS. The load factor was at a historical low level during that period. People had suspended travel plans and the demand had reduced significantly. We had to cut capacity in both domestic and international market. For example, under normal circumstances we have a flight every hour from Shanghai to Beijing. During those months, we reduced our frequency to three per day. Both leisure travel and business travel had become restricted and it was natural as health is most important for everyone. Government had strictly asked people not to fly to other countries during that period to prevent spread of SARS. As an airline Company, we supported the Government. We also undertook a lot of measures to make aircraft safe and contain the spread of SARS during flying.

However, during this particular period when we saw a sharp decline in passenger traffic, our cargo did a booming business. We had extremely good results in cargo division.

After the WHO declaration of making Bejing  SARS free city, we feel that passenger traffic will become normal soon. The recent bookings have gone up which is a positive indication. I don't think SARS effect would be long term and people will soon be free from SARS fear and start traveling like before. Due to SARS, there had been a dramatic drop of passengers and we experienced a depressed demand but now we feel there would be a dramatic improvement.

We are trying to work with travel agents to promote China. We are organizing trips for agents to get familiar with destination and promote it among people. We are also trying to get visibility through media coverage."

2. China Eastern Airlines in China

"After the merger with China Yunan and China Northwest, our fleet size has become over 140 aircraft from earlier around 90 aircraft. Sectors like Korea, Japan and Hong Kong are very strong for us and we have plans to improve our US, UK and European markets."

3.Expansion plans

"We had ordered for new aircraft in 2001.This year, we expect delivery of three new Airbus A34O aircraft. The first will join fleet in July itself. This particular aircraft would cater to Shanghai-London route.

With new aircraft joining the fleet, we would shift our five MD 11 aircraft to cargo fleet from passenger aircraft fleet. The fleet expansion plan has not been altered and we expect to complete deliveries by 2007 as per the plan."

"We are keen on expanding ourselves in the US, UK and European markets. In Europe we currently operate from Germany, France and Spain and would like to begin operations from other destinations as well. With more aircraft joining the fleet, we would look at newer markets."

4. China Eastern Airlines in India

"Currently we have only one frequency, Delhi-Beijing-Delhi from India. In August, we would start our second frequency from India. We see a lot of potential in Indian market. It is a strong market in both inbound and outbound traffic. The only shortcoming at the moment is the frequency which we would like to enhance in future.

China is also not yet promoted as a destination for leisure travelers in spite of having a lot to offer to tourists. We are awaiting the opening of China National Tourist Office (CNTO) which would help in developing China as a traveler destination among Indians. We feel tourism is an important sector and China should come in the list of global tourist destinations. Although shortly, tourism has begun between India and China, it has to increase further and there is a lot more potential. At the moment, our main traffic is business traffic as India and China has good trade links.

With the opening of CNTO, we would also have some workshops and seminars to inform the travel agents and travel writers about China. All these activities should result in developing tourism for China.

We are planning to work towards our third flight from Delhi. For future, we would like to have four flights from Delhi and then look at Mumbai as our next destination in India. We would also like to explore the cargo market in this destination.

Towards the end of this year, we also plan to change our currently used A320 aircraft for Indian sector to a bigger aircraft to cater to the growing demand."