Chapter 207: Making a Fortune! A Big Joke of the C Series Aircraft!
The test flight of the Boeing 777 was boring, but Xu Cang and Boeing got everything they wanted, which was a good ending. That night, all Boeing personnel stayed in Daocheng for one night. Their own maintenance personnel needed some time to conduct a more detailed inspection of the Boeing 777 after the test flight.
If there is no problem with the flight, the plane will fly directly from Daocheng to Tianjin tomorrow, and then go through Tianjin to return to China.
The FAA evaluators naturally followed Boeing, while the EASA personnel, together with the CAAC observers, flew back to Hanjing on a temporary flight shortly after the test flight.
Xu Cang planned to take a flight back to Jianchuan at around 9pm. Seeing that the departure time was quite late, he thought he could still have dinner with Li Rongcheng. However, the call was not connected, and no one responded when he knocked on the hotel door.
Xu Cang thought that Li Rongcheng was probably busy with some post-test flight work. Eating was not a big deal anyway, so he sent Li Rongcheng a text message saying that he would be back in Jianchuan at around nine o'clock and then ignored him.
Of course, Xu Cang never saw Li Rongcheng again, and he didn't reply to his text messages. Xu Cang just thought he was very busy, so he didn't think much about it. Of course, he flew back to Jianchuan and stayed at the Jianchuan Airport Hotel.
Daocheng is very close to Jianchuan, with a flight time of less than an hour, and it will be just after 10 o'clock in the evening when we land. If we are determined, we may be able to catch the earliest breakfast at the Spring and Summer Aviation Base tomorrow morning.
However, Xu Cang had some reasons to stay in Jianchuan. Because there were four ARJ21s with Spring Airlines' clover livery parked on a remote apron in the northwest corner of Jianchuan Airport.
Guoda Airlines originally planned to deliver 20 aircraft in two batches, but something changed and they might have to deliver them in multiple batches, with the first batch being 4. Xu Cang was suspicious of everything, and he thought Guoda was up to something. In the end, Yi Feng called him and emphasized that it was just some unexpected circumstances in the transfer, which would only extend the delivery time slightly, and there would be no other changes, which made Xu Cang feel at ease.
If nothing unexpected happens, starting from tomorrow, there will be three round-trip flights between Erhai Lake and Jianchuan every day, morning, noon and evening. In this way, Spring Airlines will not have to apply for temporary flights or take the torturous land route every time.
In addition, Tuofeng Airport also agreed to open commercial flights, but the number of flights is smaller, with two flights to Jianchuan every morning and evening. However, there is also a round-trip flight between Tuofeng and Erhai Lake every day.
These flights may seem like a lot, but in fact, two or so ARJ21s flying closely together can completely take up all of them. However, there are only four in this first batch, and we can't let the other two lie there and bask in the sun all day, right?
It costs a lot of money to let this plane bask in the sun.
Moreover, there are still more than a dozen planes that have not arrived yet! If they all arrive at the same time, more than a dozen planes will be idle as soon as they arrive, which will have a bad impact. From this point of view, it is a good thing for Xu Cang that Guoda Airlines has delayed some deliveries due to some unexpected situations.
However, this is only a stopgap measure after all. The most important thing is how to distribute these planes and make use of them.
Of course, Xu Cang had a plan long ago. He had two plans. One was to independently build the Jinghong base, which would be the center of the second air network. The second was to invite the heads of the airports in the province to meet. Xu Cang believed that there must be some who were willing to open civil aviation commercial flights, and some of them had even started to take action. He also needed to build good relationships in advance.
If it doesn't work, then develop outside. As long as the entire flight time is within one and a half hours, it can basically be handed over to ARJ21. However, in order to ensure the occupancy rate, it is impossible to contact small airports. Because in the underdeveloped areas outside the province, even if they have the need to go out, they are more inclined to choose Rongfu or Shancheng, and the internal driving force to go to Jianchuan is not great.
The surrounding cities of Rongfu, Shancheng, and Qianxi are all good choices. However, Rongcheng is the best among the three routes. Unless the idle rate of ARJ21 is really too high, Xu Cang will not use ARJ21. It is better to use 737-800.
Although Xu Cang pursues a low-cost strategy, it does not mean that the air ticket prices are all in the low hundreds. For example, can the price of Jianchuan to Hanjing and Jianchuan to Erhai be the same?
Xu Cang's cheap prices are just lower than the average price of the route. For example, the price of the Jianchuan to Hanjing route is more than 800 yuan, which is still considered cheap.
The Jianchuan-Rongfu route has a high occupancy rate and there is still room for ticket prices to increase, so it would be a pity to use ARJ21 to carry passengers.
ARJ21 is suitable for flights of less than one and a half hours, with high occupancy rates but little room for price increases. It relies on small profits but quick turnover and some policy subsidies to make hard-earned money.
It is better to leave those high-profit premium routes to the 737.
The provincial route will start tomorrow. This time Xu Cang will definitely just be a passenger, and he has no intention of participating at all.
In addition, he has to get up early tomorrow to go to the Jianchuan Air Traffic Control Bureau to meet an acquaintance who will be very important to him in the future.
Moreover, tomorrow not only will he return to Erhai Lake, but the surveyors from the National Aviation Planning and Design Institute coming from Hanjing will also take that flight to Erhai Lake first and then go to Jinghong by land.
There is no way. There are no commercial flights to Jinghong now. You can only go there by land, and the nearest airport is Erhai Lake. But even so, it takes more than five hours to drive from Erhai Lake to Jinghong, which is quite troublesome.
This time, the people from the National Aviation Planning and Design Institute were invited by Xu Cang. The purpose was of course to solve the problem of missing flight procedures for Jinghong Airport.
At first, Xu Cang thought it would take half a year to turn around, but he didn't expect that he still had some extra money. If all the money was spent, it would definitely be enough to renovate the entire Jinghong Airport, but it couldn't be used. Xu Cang also needed to spend the money elsewhere, and it was impossible to spend all the money on Jinghong Airport at once.
Moreover, it still takes some time to complete the surveying of the terrain near the airport, design the corresponding flight procedures, and then obtain approval from the authorities.
During this period of time, Xu Cang happened to have a small opportunity to make a fortune, which was a good opportunity for him to verify whether his approach of combining industrial investment with real estate was feasible.
In addition, Xu Cang also had a hard drive in his hand, which was handed to him by the person in charge after the Boeing 777 test was completed. It contained the electronic drawing data of the Boeing 737NG.
This hard drive is priceless, and Xu Cang even wants to hold it when he sleeps.
In the future, he will indeed hand over the hard drive to AVIC, but according to the previous promise with Chen Jinwu, he will get something from AVIC in return.
Xu Cang's current ideas are much better than before. For example, if you only have ideals and awareness, you will definitely not go far.
…
The next morning, Xu Cang was awakened by the alarm clock. He looked at the time, and in panic, he jumped out of bed and hurried to wash and pack.
He set three alarms in total, but he slept so soundly that he ignored the first two. Fortunately, the third alarm was still useful, but the remaining time was already quite tight.
Xu Cang simply packed up, drank some water, and rushed out of the airport hotel.
The Airport Hotel is located in the airport work area, just two streets away from the Jianchuan Air Traffic Control Bureau, and it takes less than five minutes to run there. According to the previously agreed location, Xu Cang saw Director Liu from the Jianchuan Airport Tower Control Room at the bus stop opposite the main entrance of the Jianchuan Air Traffic Control Bureau.
That’s right, Xu Cang came here specifically to see Director Liu.
Director Liu obviously had a better sense of time than Xu Cang. He arrived at the agreed location early and even started to eat breakfast leisurely, holding a newspaper that came from nowhere in his hand.
Seeing Xu Cang coming over, Director Liu took out another cup of soy milk from the plastic bag beside him and said, "You look so hurried, you didn't have breakfast, did you?"
"Haha, I almost overslept." Xu Cang was not polite. He directly took the soy milk from Director Liu and found an empty space next to Director Liu's seat to sit down.
"You young people just don't want to sleep at night and don't want to get up in the morning. Tsk tsk tsk, you just rely on your youth." Director Liu folded the newspaper and said, "Come on, you specially asked me out to talk. What are you doing, kid?"
Xu Cang simply took out the straw, opened the lid, and drank half a cup of soy milk in one gulp, leaving Director Liu stunned.
Xu Cang drank it quickly, and when he was done he gave some comments: "Not enough sugar, the bean smell is a bit too strong, not good."
Director Liu sneered, "If it's really that sweet, I might as well give you a glass of sugar water. Don't be picky. Why are you looking for me?"
"Director, don't be so angry. We do have a little friendship."
Director Liu flicked his fingernails and said, "Yes, it's just... a little bit of friendship. So, please respect yourself when you speak and don't ask for anything beyond our friendship."
"I am a very self-aware person. Director, I heard that you have been transferred to the second-in-command of the Municipal Air Traffic Control Bureau?"
Director Liu was very dissatisfied: "What's the first and second in command? They all serve the people. There is no such thing as a few in command. When did you start beating around the bush? If you have something to say, say it now. If you have something to say, fart now!"
"It's like this. The number of flights at Erhai Airport will increase significantly in the future, and the airport controllers may not be enough, so this... hehehe..."
Director Liu glared and said, "Hey, hey, what are you talking about? You can't even summon a controller even if you do that to me all day long."
Xu Cang was shameless: "You have been working in the front line of control at Jianchuan Airport for more than ten years, so you must have a lot of connections. Besides, now that you have taken a step further, wouldn't it be easy for you to assign some controllers to Erhai Lake?"
"It's easy, right? You wish!" Director Liu tucked the folded newspaper under his arm and walked across the street. When he was about to reach the other side of the road along the zebra crossing, a voice came from there: "Don't even think about being a mature air traffic controller. There are more than a dozen trainee air traffic controllers coming from Jianchuan Airport. I can transfer four or five trainees to you. Do you want them?"
Xu Cang was stunned. It had come to this point, so how could he still be picky? He immediately shouted, "Director, you have to choose carefully for me. Director, I believe in your vision!"
The only response from Xu Cang was Director Liu's angry roar: "I'm not your father, why should I choose people for you? Who do you want to choose? I'll close my eyes and pick five for you. Whether they are cats or tigers is your own business."
"Okay..." Xu Cang was still thinking about getting a good deal and was prepared to bargain at the last minute, but his cell phone rang. He took it out and saw that it was Xiao Lingyun's number.
Xu Cang's mind moved, and he answered the phone. Xiao Lingyun's harsh and urgent voice came from the phone: " Where are you now?"
"I told you, opposite the main entrance of the Air Traffic Control Bureau." Xu Cang thought for a moment and added, "The bus stop opposite the main entrance."
“I see you!”
As soon as he finished speaking, Xiao Lingyun hung up the phone.
Xu Cang put down his phone, sensed something and began to look around. Sure enough, a man walked out from not far away on the right side of the road. It was Xiao Lingyun.
At this moment, Xiao Lingyun was wearing a gray jacket and walking in a hurry, just like his aggressive tone just now, just like his heart that could no longer calm down.
Originally, Xiao Lingyun was planning to settle Yi Xin Insurance in Shekou for a while, but not long ago, Xu Cang arranged a financial operation plan for him that seemed quite unreasonable.
However, probably because this was the first mission given to Xiao Lingyun, Xu Cang did not invest too much this time, only taking out more than 30 million. Although it was a rebirth, some things had changed after his rebirth, so he couldn't bet everything every time, so he just treated this first time as a test.
Just yesterday, Bombardier released its first trunk airliner, the C Series CS100, which directly competes with the Boeing 737 and Airbus 320 in terms of passenger capacity. This event is exactly what Xu Cang is going to take advantage of. He wants to see what kind of impact this first C Series aircraft can bring to Bombardier.
Perhaps, as the world thinks, Bombardier has joined the fight between Boeing and Airbus and has become the catfish that muddies the waters. But Xu Cang is different. He comes from the future, he knows everything, and he can get the possibilities he wants from this incident.
This is an experiment. If successful, Xu Cang will be able to obtain a steady stream of financial support. Xiao Lingyun's news will determine Xu Cang's future direction.
Xu Cang went forward, but before he could speak, Xiao Lingyun, with bloodshot eyes, grabbed Xu Cang's shoulders and asked, "How did you know?"
Xu Cang was startled, then his eyes flashed with brilliance: "Any news?"
Xiao Lingyun took a deep breath, "It's incredible, it's incredible! The world's fourth largest aircraft manufacturer has received zero orders for its first mainline passenger aircraft! No matter which media, venture capital, or stock forecasting agency, who would have thought that Bombardier, who thought it was going to stir up trouble, turned out to be such a joke. Hahaha! Bombardier's stock price has plummeted, Xu Cang, we've made a killing!"
