Great Wall Airline Taken Over by Eastern AirlinesThe Great Wall Airline was taken over by China Eastern Airlines (CEA) and was reorganized into a CEA branch based in Ningbo, a port city in Zhejiang Province, east China.The merger was made possible after many rounds of negotiations and CEA was eventually given the approval by the General Administration of Civil Aviation of China to acquire the Great Wall Airline. The Great Wall Airline was founded in Chongqing in June 1992 by the Chinese Civil Aviation Flying College. Its headquarters was moved to Ningbo in March 1997. Before the merger, Great Wall had three Boeing 737-200s and operated 28 domestic air routes. It kept a flight safety record and achieved good economic benefits. As one of the country's three major air transport conglomerates, CEA possesses about 70 planes and runs some 200 domestic and international air routes. A CEA executive said that the merger helps improve CEA's advantage in east China, is conducive to a rational distribution of resources for air service. In the meantime, the flying college will be able to concentrate more energy and funds on education after the reshuffle. The executive also disclosed that CEA would take over China Northwestern Airlines in cooperation with Yunnan Airlines. By then, CEA's assets will climb to 47.3 billion yuan (about 5. 7 billion U.S. dollars), and the number of its planes and air routes will increase to 118 and 437, respectively. |
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