Chapter 420: Flight Test Engineer!
Previously, Xu Cang proposed to the owner of Phoenix Aviation School to acquire the school. However, at that time, the civil aviation industry was booming, and the owner asked for 200 million or 300 million yuan. He didn't want to buy the entire school, but the license alone was so expensive, and the rest of the hardware was not included.
This can no longer be described as a lion's mouth opening too much, it is simply so crazy that he doesn't know his own weight.
As a result, after just a few days of good times, the world's civil aviation was affected by the US hijacking and crashing incident, and it suddenly declined. As a result, airlines' expectations for future students also decreased a lot, and the good days of the aviation school fell to the bottom in an instant.
However, large flight academies are less affected, and it is just a matter of how much profit they can make.
But Phoenix Aviation School is different. It has a low reputation in the flight training market. The equipment is old, the instructors are average, and the location is too remote.
Previously, it was because large flight academies could not handle so many student orders, and the leaked soup was enough for Phoenix Aviation School to drink its fill.
However, as soon as orders tighten, Phoenix Aviation School will be the first to be affected.
This year, Phoenix Aviation School has nearly 200 commissioned students, which is quite good considering the size of the school.
But so far, it is already the last quarter, and the number of trainees received for next year's training is only eleven. This comparison directly made the boss of Phoenix Aviation School explode.
This aviation school had never made much money before, and after just one year of good times, it immediately returned to its old state.
Moreover, the worst thing is that the aviation school owner received news that such a depressed market situation would continue for several years. This market expectation directly broke the psychological defense of the aviation school owner.
Two years ago, the owner of the aviation school actually thought about looking for a buyer. However, the market suddenly improved and he gave up the idea of selling. However, now thinking back, those good days were really like a dream. Now that the dream is over, it is time to do what should have been done before.
Although the outlook for the civil aviation industry is bleak, it has had good times after all, and if you sell it earlier, the price may be higher.
Now the aviation school owners are not waiting for the industry to recover, they just want to sell at a good price and withdraw quickly.
According to Zhu Ming, the owner of the aviation school offered 100 million yuan, which was not only a 50% discount, but also included the aviation school hardware.
However, Phoenix Aviation School does not own either of its two base airports, and only has the right to use them, not the ownership. Therefore , it has to pay the airport every year, which is a relatively large expense and is paid to the airport at the end of each year, about two months later.
In other words, this money is not included in the 100 million yuan, and Xu Cang needs to pay an additional fee for the use of the airport.
This was a little trick played by the aviation school boss, but Xu Cang and Zhu Ming saw through it but didn't say anything.
In fact, if the aviation school was sold for 100 million, there would still be some profit. However, if Xu Cang was determined to lower the price and let it sit for a while, the price would surely go down.
It is a consensus that the overall civil aviation environment is not good now, and the initiative is on Xu Cang's side.
However, Xu Cang had no intention of lowering the price, as he wanted to let others make some money.
Of course, the most important thing is that Xu Cang is afraid that in half a year, the owner of the aviation school will see that the industry is beginning to recover. If the price is pushed too low, won't he be so angry that he will jump off the building and commit suicide?
That’s right, if nothing unexpected happens, this so-called civil aviation depression will not last long. After half a year, there will be signs of recovery, and after a year, it will basically return to the original level, and then it will be a golden decade.
In the past, if you paid 200 or 300 million yuan for a license plate, you would definitely be cheated. But now, if you pay 100 million yuan for everything, Xu Cang thinks it is acceptable.
Live your life and let others live, isn't this the best of both worlds?
Moreover, although Xu Cang has room to lower the price, it is actually difficult to know.
It is said that there will be signs of recovery in half a year, but there should be some signs before that. If it is delayed any further, and the flight school owners are late to realize it, then the price may go up again.
Therefore, Xu Cang agreed with Zhu Ming at that time that he would send someone to audit the assets of Phoenix Aviation School after returning to China.
One hundred million is a price Xu Cang can accept , but he also has to send someone to see whether Phoenix Aviation School has assets of corresponding value. At least the difference cannot be too big.
Another thing is to check the debts of Phoenix Aviation School. If he buys Phoenix Aviation School, it means he will bear the corresponding debts , and Xu Cang cannot accept being a sucker.
However, according to his memory before rebirth, Phoenix Aviation School should not have a large number of bad debts. Even without Xu Cang's acquisition, Phoenix Aviation School should have a good future development after the low point during this period. Before his rebirth, Phoenix Aviation School existed, but it was always tepid.
In addition to bringing the news that Phoenix Aviation School was interested in selling, Zhu Ming also gave Xu Cang a piece of news that was not too big or too small.
Wang Xuan, general manager of Blue Sky Airlines' flight department, was arrested for bribery. It seems that he bribed a senior executive of Jianchuan Airport Group for the Jianchuan-Cebu route. No further details are known.
During this period, apart from the incident in the United States, the most hotly discussed issue was Wang Xuan's arrest.
With Wang Xuan's arrest, the entire Blue Sky Airlines will be subject to investigation. Blue Sky Airlines is not innocent, and if you look closely, you will find some problems.
In addition, not only the Cebu route was canceled, but all other international routes in Southeast Asia were also suspended. The Southwest Bureau is investigating whether there were loopholes in Blue Sky Airlines' previous approval of Southeast Asian routes.
Not to mention whether something fatal will be found, just going through all the verification procedures will take a lot of time. During this period, all routes to Southeast Asia will be stopped.
Some of these routes belong to Blue Sky Airlines, and the temporary suspension of these routes will result in less losses. However, some of them belong to travel agencies, and these will be implicated.
Just like the charter contract signed between Spring Summer Travel Group and Blue Sky Airlines, some other travel agencies will also cooperate with Blue Sky Airlines.
These travel agencies mainly organize tours to Southeast Asia, and they all have their own routes. Blue Sky Airlines is only responsible for providing aircraft and crew.
As a result, Blue Sky Airlines encountered problems, and the travel agencies' own routes also had to be reviewed. That would mean a huge loss of money, so shouldn't Blue Sky Airlines have to compensate for the losses?
Blue Sky Airlines had spent a lot of money on the promotion of the A380, but was stood up by Airbus and suddenly became a clown.
Now the Southeast Asian routes, which had just started to pick up, were hit hard. They didn’t make much money and might even have to pay compensation to the travel agencies.
After learning the news, many people in the industry talked about it, and some even questioned whether Blue Sky Airlines would go bankrupt because of this blow. After all, Blue Sky Airlines' cash flow was not very healthy before.
If it were in the past, Xu Cang might have been a bit gloating. He originally planned to take Blue Sky Airlines into his pocket because he needed to consolidate his influence in the southwest. However, with the General Administration willing to hand over Rongfu Airport to him, he alone had two major southwest hub airports and had no urgent need for Blue Sky Airlines.
With this mentality, Xu Cang felt like he was just watching a show.
However, even if Blue Sky Airlines survives this crisis and the A380 is delivered, it will probably not be able to withstand such a money-eating behemoth with its limited funds.
By then, even if Xu Cang didn't need Blue Sky Airlines very much, Blue Sky Airlines would eventually fall into his pocket.
After hanging up the phone with Zhu Ming, Xu Cang tightened his clothes again. It was indeed a bit cold for him at night.
Yue Sheng saw Xu Cang's little movements and couldn't help but worry: "I feel that you are still a little weak."
"It's normal to feel a little weak after recovering from a serious illness." Xu Cang didn't care. "Wait for ANA to agree and immediately announce the aircraft innovation plan of Goodspeed Airlines. At this juncture, public opinion is greatly biased towards Goodspeed Airlines. We must let the public see the changes of Goodspeed Airlines so that we can seize this opportunity."
"I know. I've already mentioned this to Ji Chuan Yixin." Yue Sheng didn't object. "But what about those old planes of Jiasu Airlines?"
"DC and MD series aircraft have not been completely withdrawn from the market yet and can be sold. I think there will be airlines that will take over, whether for passenger or cargo transport." Xu Cang said: "In addition to aircraft, pilots of related aircraft models are also allowed to move freely. However, if someone is willing to modify the 737 or 320, modification training can be provided in the form of advance payment."
It will take about ten years for the DC series and MD series aircraft to be completely eliminated from the historical stage. These old models of Jiasu Airlines may not be able to make money from selling them, but it is highly likely that they will not lose much money.
As for the crew, Xu Cang plans to transfer some of them from Asiana Airlines to Goodspeed Airlines. Asiana Airlines is still in a trough period, and it will take some time to recover, which leads to excess crew resources, and Goodspeed Airlines can help digest some of the excess crew resources of Asiana Airlines.
This is one of the benefits of large enterprises, which allows for more reasonable allocation of resources.
With the subsequent establishment of his own flight school and simulator training center, Xu Cang can build a completely independent pilot training system. This system can not only be used for his own use, but also for training pilots for other airlines, making huge profits from it.
In the future, the General Administration will tighten the standards for issuing licenses for flight schools and simulator training centers. Before the golden age of civil aviation arrives, these two years will be Xu Cang's last chance.
However, due to language barriers, only some pilots who knew English from Asiana Airlines could be transferred to Goodspeed Airlines, and the rest could not be transferred. This resulted in Goodspeed Airlines still lacking crew after the aircraft model was innovated.
Therefore, in addition to recruiting some experienced pilots from outside, Xu Cang is also willing to accept Jiasu's own pilots to receive training on aircraft modification.
A huge problem with the DC and MD series aircraft is that the experience time is not universal. If you want to change to a 737 or 320, you need to start from scratch, which not all pilots are willing to do.
Moreover, unlike in China, Xu Cang will not provide free modification training, but will advance the payment and later deduct a certain percentage from the salary to repay the training expenses.
After all fees are repaid, the pilot can move freely, instead of having to go through the extremely difficult job-hopping process like domestic civil aviation pilots.
In this regard, Yue Sheng respected Xu Cang's opinion very much and did not object at all: "Well, I will ask Ji Chuan to come up with a plan in advance."
"Of course." Xu Cang said: "Besides that, the negotiations with Japan Airlines in the near future will still be led by you, President Yue."
Yue Sheng was a little surprised: "Aren't you going?"
"No, the situation in Japan has been decided. I don't need to spend too much energy on it. In the negotiations with Japan Airlines, there are only two bottom lines to abide by. One is to obtain two seats on the board of directors of Japan Airlines, and the other is to maintain the independence of Jiasu Airlines."
In other words, although Jiasu Airlines was merged into Japan Airlines, it seems to only follow orders and not announcements.
"If you want to come to Japan Airlines, I can agree to the first condition, but I won't talk about the second one."
"They will agree." Xu Cang said firmly: "Just insist on these two conditions. If they don't agree, then don't push forward the merger."
Xu Cang remembered that even without his operation, in the previous life, Japan Airlines had established a domestic airline to specifically take charge of the domestic market, and its backbone strength was Jiasu Airlines.
This move is equivalent to actually recognizing the considerable independence of Jiasu Airlines.
Now under Xu Cang's management, the value of Jiasu Airlines has greatly increased. Can't it get a position where it only obeys orders and not announcements?
Yue Sheng didn't have Xu Cang's vision, and seemed a little unsure: "Won't this cause the negotiations to fail?"
Xu Cang glanced at Yue Sheng and said, "You only need to remember one thing: it is Japan Airlines that needs Jiasu, not Jiasu that needs Japan Airlines. This is our greatest confidence."
Yue Sheng opened his mouth and said, "You can see it clearly."
"It's just because I'm standing higher." Xu Cang buttoned up his shirt and said, "I'll leave after I arrange things in Japan. You can stay here, Mr. Yue."
Yue Sheng was a little surprised: "Do you have anything urgent to do?"
"I need to go back to China to preside over the establishment of Cangqing Group. I also need to go to Europe." Xu Cang said, moving his left shoulder. The pain made him frown slightly: "Maybe I have to go to Montreal."
"Montreal?" Yue Sheng guessed, "ICAO headquarters?"
"Um."
"What are you doing there?"
Xu Cang pointed to his left shoulder and said, "According to aviation medical standards, my left shoulder is probably not airworthy. So, I need to ask the ICAO Air Navigation Committee for something."
Yue Sheng was stunned: "What?"
"Pilot Charter Certification."
"Specialized appraisal?" Yue Sheng thought for a moment: "You can apply for a special appraisal from the expert committee of the Civil Aviation General Hospital. Why bother going to the ICAO headquarters?"
Xu Cang shook his head: "The special certification I need deviates even further. Domestic special certification has restrictions, such as not being able to perform captain duties. However, I hope my medical certificate does not have such restrictions, so the ICAO Air Navigation Commission needs to grant special certification for my situation."
Yue Sheng was a little confused: "You have already achieved success, so the captain's duties are nothing to you, right? What do you need the position of captain to prove?"
"That's right. The position of captain is nothing to me, but I need the captain qualification and another operational qualification." A trace of longing flashed across Xu Cang's eyes: "Flight test engineer! The flight test engineer of the first domestically produced large aircraft must be me!"
