Chapter 246: The Fourth Giant! King of the Southwest!
Blue Sky Aviation Flight Department Office, quarterly meeting.
During the meeting, the person sitting at the chief seat was naturally Luo Yong, the person in charge of the flight system. Under him were Wang Xuan, the general manager of the flight department, Luo Jingyun, the captain of the Boeing crew, Jin Fuli, the captain of the Airbus crew, Wu Yong, the director of the quality center, and Lin Can, the operations control manager.
"There are only two major events in the next quarter. One is the A380, and the other is to expand the international market in Southeast Asia, with Cebu as the first." Luo Yong went straight to the point and pointed out the two major themes of the meeting.
"Let's talk about the A380 first. Captain Jin, you have to work hard this time. I need you to go to Toulouse to pick up the plane."
According to Jin Fuli's qualifications, he should actually sit above Wang Xuan. However, Jin Fuli became more and more casual, and was lazy even in the regular flight system meeting. When he heard Luo Yong call his name, he just said, "No one in our company can fly the A380, so let's leave it all to Mu Hua and let them pick up the plane. Why bother me? I have to go to Toulouse for training in advance. Aren't I tired?"
There is no A380 simulator or real aircraft in China, so if you want to get the A380 qualification, you need to go directly to Airbus headquarters in Toulouse. Obviously, Jin Fuli is not interested in this job at all.
Luo Yong looked at Jin Fuli, who had almost written rejection on his forehead, and was hesitant to speak. In the end, he could only persuade him in a relatively gentle tone: "Captain Jin, you have the longest experience flying Airbus in the company and are the most experienced. You have flown heavy aircraft before, so it is relatively easier to modify them, right? Besides, isn't it a big deal for our company to receive the A380? In the past, you would have been the first to apply. Didn't you also receive our company's first A330? At that time..."
"Things are different now, what's the past?" Jin Fuli threw the minutes in his hand forward and said, "The company has lost its human touch. I find it boring. You can mess around with me as much as you want, but don't mess with my old bones."
"Captain Jin, isn't it because Muhua Airlines charges a high fee for airport pick-up? It will be cheaper if we use our own people. You should also consider the interests of the company." At this time, Boeing captain Luo Jingyun spoke to persuade.
However, in Jin Fuli's eyes, Luo Jingyun was just a little kid, and he was too lazy to say anything too harsh, so he just said a little: "You are a young man, and you feel full of energy when you were promoted. But I advise you to express your opinions less. If you talk about dialogue, no one will praise you, and if you say something wrong, you will be responsible. Besides, isn't the Airbus team responsible for the A380? When did the Boeing team start to manage the Airbus team's affairs?"
When Luo Jingyun heard Jin Fuli's words, his face was uncertain, but he didn't dare to fight back. Luo Yong spoke up to smooth things over: "Captain Jin, I know you have objections to our company's introduction of the A380, but there's no need to complain here, right?"
"I have no objection. When did I have an objection?" Jin Fuli spread his hands and even laughed a few times in a sarcastic tone: "The A380 is so good. It can seat so many people. It must make a lot of money, right?"
When most people at Blue Sky Airlines placed their hopes on the A380, there was still some dissenting opinion within the company, including Jin Fuli.
At this moment, Wang Xuan, the general manager of the flight department, could no longer sit still and said, "Captain Jin, as soon as the news of our company's A380 introduction was released, the stock price rose a lot, which shows that the market is optimistic. Please don't be biased."
"People are optimistic about our company and the A380. Yes, in the early stage of the introduction of the aircraft, there may be a good wave of revenue due to the novelty of this model, but what will happen when the novelty wears off? When the initial dividend of the A380 is over, once the efficiency declines, the current stock price increase will not even be enough to fill the gaps between teeth. Isn't the example of the Concorde clear enough?"
When Luo Yong heard Jin Fuli compare the A380 to the Concorde, his face suddenly darkened. The Concorde is now basically dead. If the A380 is really the same as the Concorde, then the huge maintenance cost of the A380 will indeed become a huge financial burden for Blue Sky Airlines.
However, Jin Fuli's words are actually not bad. In the first few years after the launch of the Concorde, it did benefit greatly from the novelty of the aircraft. After all, supersonic civil airliners still have a considerable gimmick.
However, this good time did not last long. Once the novelty wore off, the Concorde market shrank dramatically, and coupled with many other problems, a large number of airlines that were originally interested in Concorde canceled their orders.
The selling point of the supersonic civil airliner and the title of the world's largest civil airliner are not extremely similar, they are almost exactly the same.
To be honest, neither Muhua Airlines nor Blue Sky Airlines' own marketing department is sure about the future of the super-large passenger aircraft market. However, given the booming global civil aviation market, especially the domestic market, they are relatively optimistic.
However, Jin Fuli's words were really unlucky. Business people are more or less superstitious. The A380 has not been introduced yet, and Jin Fuli has already predicted a similar fate to the Concorde. How can Luo Yong be happy?
Luo Yong was concerned about Jin Fuli's seniority and just said, "Captain Jin, what you said is unlucky."
"Why is it unlucky? Isn't this what you wanted to do? You wanted to introduce the 777 first, but then the 777 encountered problems, so you switched to the 747, and now it's the A380. What's wrong? You feel uncomfortable if you don't make some changes, right? How much money did you lose when you switched on the 747S2? You still want to do it, right? You think about taking a gamble every day. Do you have the ability to do it?"
Jin Fuli's words were so heartbreaking that the leaders of the flight department present blushed and turned green when they heard them.
Yes, what Jin Fuli said is indeed very targeted. Since a long time ago, when Blue Sky Airlines slowed down, the company's management has been filled with opportunism. They always think about achieving success in one fell swoop. Whether it is the 777, 747, or the current A380, they are all the products of this mindset.
However, everyone understands this, but it is a bit harsh when it is said in public.
Before Luo Yong could refute, Jin Fuli continued to scold him: "Muhua Airlines is willing to give us the first A380 quota. Do you really think they are kind? Muhua Airlines is kind? Who is Ma Cheng from the Strategy Department? Have you never heard of him? None of us here can compare to him. Can he let Muhua suffer a loss? He even pulled us into the SkyTeam alliance. Do you really believe it? After all, Muhua Airlines is not sure about the prospects of the A380. They let us be their vanguards to explore the way for them. Don’t you understand?"
Jin Fuli was talking when he suddenly saw Luo Yong's indifferent expression. He was stunned for a moment, then laughed and said, "Maybe you guys understand and are just willing to be the pathfinder."
"Captain Jin, if you don't agree, we won't even be qualified to explore the route." Luo Yong sighed, "Forget it, Captain Jin is old after all, let's discuss the selection of the pick-up. We are talking about Cebu. Jingyun, the Southeast Asian routes will basically be handled by 737, so you will have the say."
Luo Jingyun first glanced at Jin Fuli who was half-closed his eyes, and then continued: "In the next six months, we plan to open some Southeast Asian routes, involving Cebu, Manila, Jakarta, Bangkok and Maldives. Among them, the Jianchuan-Cebu route has been basically approved, and the follow-up..."
Before Luo Jingyun finished speaking, the phone on the table suddenly rang. His first reaction was to hang up the phone, but after seeing the number, he whispered to Luo Yong: "Mr. Luo, from the marketing department."
"Hmm?" Luo Yong raised his eyebrows: "Then answer it, maybe there's something going on?"
"Oh well!"
After getting Luo Yong's permission, Luo Jingyun immediately answered the phone. However, the Boeing captain, who had been smiling faintly the moment before, had a drastic change in his expression in less than ten seconds after answering the phone.
Within a minute, Luo Jingyun hung up the phone, leaving only confusion and gloom on his face.
"What's wrong?" Luo Yong felt something was wrong when he saw Luo Jingyun's expression: "What's the problem?"
Luo Jingyun put the phone back on the table and pursed his lips: "Boss Luo, there is a problem with the approval of the Cebu route."
"Um? "
At this moment, not only Luo Yong, but also Wang Xuan and other leaders were extremely surprised. Even Jin Fuli raised his eyebrows slightly. He knew that the approval of Cebu route had been basically completed, so why did it go wrong at this stage?
Luo Yong straightened up all of a sudden: "The marketing department said that? But yesterday morning, they reported to me the approval process and said there was no problem. How come something went wrong now? What's the problem?"
Although Luo Jingyun's face looked unhappy, it did not prevent the confusion and bewilderment in his eyes. It seemed that he did not quite understand the marketing department's explanation on the approval of the Cebu route.
"It is said that it is stuck with Jianchuan Airport. Jianchuan Airport Group refuses to sign."
Luo Yong got angry: "Why don't they sign? The bureau has agreed. What right do they have to disagree?"
"The authority agrees, but the airport disagrees. This situation seems to only happen at the three major hub airports." Wang Xuan said uncertainly.
Lin Can, the transportation manager, didn't understand: "Why? What does this mean?"
"Among the three major hubs, Hanjing Airport belongs to Guoda Airlines, Shanghai Airport belongs to Tiandong Airlines, and Yangcheng Airport belongs to Muhua Airlines. I just signed a document today to open the Jianchuan-Binjiang route, which shows that there is no problem with domestic routes. That is for international routes. International routes... could it be?" Wang Xuan suddenly thought of a possibility.
Luo Jingyun sighed and nodded: "Yes, an airline with priority has appeared at Jianchuan Airport. Jianchuan Airport has an owner."
Bang!
As soon as these words came out, Luo Yong stood up suddenly and said, "Impossible! Only the three major airlines have airport priority, and this priority was fixed at the beginning. The authority will never give the three major airlines another airport priority. Impossible, how can a fourth airline have airport priority?"
If there is an airline that has priority over Jianchuan Airport, just like the three major airlines have priority over the three major hubs, all airlines that want to open international routes at Jianchuan Airport must obtain the consent of that airline, otherwise the approval process will be stuck at the airport group, with only the last step left.
From a personal perspective, Luo Yong does not believe that there will be a fourth airline with airport priority, but from a rational point of view, this is undoubtedly the greatest possibility. Because Blue Sky Airlines has previously applied for international routes departing from Shanghai Airport, just like now, the authorities agreed, but Tiandong Airlines did not agree, and the progress was stuck at the Shanghai Airport Group stage, and there has been no progress so far.
So similar, the processes of the two are so similar!
"Is there really a fourth airline with priority?" Luo Yong's heart was pounding. He hadn't received such shocking news in a long time.
Wang Xuan has now recovered from his shock. He really didn't expect that the priority of Jianchuan Airport would be given away. This is simply a disaster for Blue Sky Airlines, which uses Jianchuan Airport as its base.
From now on, whenever Blue Sky Airlines wants to develop international routes, it will have to depend on the attitude of that airline.
At this moment, even Jin Fuli, who had not been interested before, found it interesting and asked with a smile: "Who is so capable?"
As soon as this question came out, everyone's eyes were focused on Luo Jingyun. However, Luo Jingyun said helplessly: "The Jianchuan Airport Group has not responded, because the bureau has not officially issued a follow-up, but has already notified them verbally, so they can't..."
Before Luo Jingyun could finish his words, the door of the conference room was roughly pushed open, revealing the figure of Secretary Luo Yong.
The secretary was holding a paper document in his hand, his face slightly pale: "Boss Luo, the General Administration sent a telegram..."
Luo Yong was already in a state of confusion. When he saw his secretary's expression was not right, he was startled. "What's the content?"
The secretary walked quickly to Luo Yong and handed him the message: "About Jianchuan Airport."
Luo Yong took the message with trepidation. In full view of everyone, he only read it for a dozen seconds before throwing it on the table.
Jin Fuli, with his arms folded, glanced at the message on the table and suddenly raised his eyebrows: "Spring Summer Airlines, isn't that..."
Wang Xuan, who was standing next to him, gritted his teeth and said two words: "Xu Cang!"
Except for Blue Sky Airlines, all domestic airlines received the same message, which undoubtedly announced the birth of the fourth domestic airline with airport priority. In fact, before this message was sent, many airlines did not know about the existence of Spring Airlines, and most of them knew about it because Spring Airlines's low-cost operation method was too alternative.
In terms of airline size, Spring Airlines is undoubtedly not ranked high in China. But now, such a small airline has the airport priority that many large companies dream of.
Just like in fantasy novels, although the protagonist is at a low level, he has excellent bones and his upper limit is far higher than those who are stronger.
Although Jianchuan Airport is not as good as the three major hubs, it has priority, which means it has a base that will never be taken away. With such support, even if Spring Airlines is not aggressive enough, it will have no problem becoming a leader in the southwest region.
In the top-floor conference room of Tiandong Airlines, when the board of directors was in session, the leaders present received this message from the General Administration, and many of them were extremely surprised.
A sturdy figure stood out in the crowd. After reading the report, he laughed out loud at the board meeting: "Master, I told you that my little brother has a bright future! Do you believe me now?"
At the top, a middle-aged man with an elegant temperament and a loose long gown lowered his eyebrows slightly and said, "Yannian, please pay attention to the occasion."
Zhou Yannian couldn't hide the smile on his face: "Master, you told me before that Xu Cang was not ready to cooperate with us. What about now? I told you that Master's vision is definitely very sharp. How could he be wrong?"
It turned out that this elegant middle-aged man was the helmsman of Tiandong Airlines, Zhou Yannian's master, Bi Lin's apprentice, Gu Chen.
However, although Gu Chen is Zhou Yannian's master, he is in very good condition and looks about the same age as Zhou Yannian, which is really amazing.
"I went to your master's place a few days ago, and he mentioned it specifically. Well, I was wrong. Yannian, you have a good relationship with Xu Cang, which is good."
It is very commendable that the chairman of Tiandong Airlines took the initiative to admit his mistakes at the board meeting.
At this time, a director who was working on Gu Chen asked, "Chairman, now that the authority has given the order, it's a done deal. Although Jianchuan Airport is not as good as the three major hubs, it is enough to support a large airline. In this way, the rise of Spring Airlines is an inevitable trend."
Gu Chen smiled slightly and said, "Yes, Spring Airlines has shown its potential, and it seems to be unstoppable. In any case, it is better to have one more friend than one more enemy. Yannian, you said before that you would hand over some of the aviation material purchases to the aviation material company owned by Xu Cang, so do it. In addition, in the future, if you can help with some of Spring Airlines' affairs at the Shanghai airport, please help."
Zhou Yannian's mouth was grinning to the back of his ears: "Master, OK, I'll take note of it. When Xu Cang comes to Shanghai, I'll call him over to meet you."
Looking at his favorite disciple, Gu Chen nodded: "I really want to meet this genius who even my master praises so much."
…
While Spring Airlines was stirring up domestic civil aviation, Xu Cang, who was at the center of the vortex, did not feel much. He was already at Yangcheng Airport and would follow the crew through customs in a while.
Xu Cang was satisfied that Lu Yongjian was eventually replaced. The captain who replaced him seemed to know Xu Cang and was quite polite to him. Since Yangcheng Airport still has many international routes, when Xu Cang and his party arrived at the customs entrance, other airlines were crowded in front of them, so Xu Cang and his party had to wait in line.
Xu Cang was at the end of the crew. Looking at the long queue in front of him, Xu Cang estimated that he would have to wait for another ten minutes before it was his turn.
Just when Xu Cang was bored, he suddenly saw a familiar figure at the passenger passage.
"Doctor Xu?" Xu Cang greeted the opposite team.
Xu Ruxing was also queuing. When he saw Xu Cang, he smiled and waved.
Xu Cang patted the security guard in front of him, asked him to keep his luggage for him, and quickly ran to Xu Ruxing.
"Doctor Xu, are you going abroad too?"
"I'm going to Switzerland to attend a medical seminar. I think your rapamycin will be mentioned at the conference." Xu Ruxing said with a smile: "Some time ago, I mentioned to Liu Jinxin the matter of exporting rapamycin. Did he tell you about it?"
Xu Cang also laughed and said, "I said, I think you are right. We should enter the European and American markets while rapamycin still has a leading position."
"Yeah!" Xu Ruxing nodded, looking a little tired. He glanced at his team that had not moved yet and continued, "You don't have to worry too much. I have some connections in Europe and the United States. If nothing else, at least you won't be targeted when applying for certification. As long as you are not targeted, with the quality of rapamycin, it should be no problem to pass FDA and COS certification."
"Doctor Xu, you have made great efforts in this matter of rapamycin. We are so embarrassed."
During this period, Xu Cang also checked Xu Ruxing's information. As Liu Jinxin said, Xu Ruxing not only enjoys a high reputation in China, but is also a leading medical expert internationally. It is undoubtedly quite rare for such a big shot in the industry to endorse rapamycin.
The most important thing is that everything Xu Ruxing did was spontaneous and he did not ask for anything in return.
"It's okay. Rapamycin is indeed a good drug. It is my responsibility to promote this good drug." Xu Ruxing looked at Xu Cang, and then glanced at the crew Xu Cang was with just now: "Where are you going?"
"Incheon, South Korea!" Xu Cang said. He noticed that Xu Ruxing didn't seem to be in a good mental state, so he couldn't help but show concern: "Doctor Xu, you look a little tired."
"Incheon?" Xu Ruxing looked at Xu Cang deeply, then suddenly laughed and said, "The kid next door has had roseola infantum recently, and it's been very bad, so I'm also feeling uneasy."
Xu Cang was startled: "Roseola infantum?"
"Yes, roseola infantum!" Xu Ruxing's eyes flashed with a special light: "Generally speaking, children will have an outbreak once, with a high fever during the outbreak, but it will be fine after the outbreak. If the rash is not allowed to break out, it may come back more severely later, do you understand?"
"This, I seem to know something." Xu Cang didn't think much about it. He originally planned to say a few words to Xu Ruxing, but suddenly he found that Xu Ruxing's team had moved.
Xu Ruxing patted Xu Cang on the shoulder: "Remember my words, let's go!"
After saying that, he picked up his suitcase and walked forward with the team, leaving Xu Cang with a puzzled look on his face.
"Remember what I said? That sentence?" Xu Cang scratched his head, looked at Xu Ruxing who had already entered the customs, and silently returned to the team in the crew channel.
After taking the suitcase handle from the security guard, Xu Cang was still thinking about the conversation with Xu Ruxing, but it seemed that there was nothing special worth paying attention to. After thinking for a while, he still couldn't figure it out, so Xu Cang simply stopped thinking about it.
No matter what, Incheon air crash, here I come!
