The Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) has installed Air China executive Fan Cheng into Shenzhen Airlines, a move that comes after the airline's major owner was taken in for police questioning.
Fan, who still keeps his post as VP of Air China, is now general secretary of the communist party assigned to Shenzhen Airlines, says a Shenzhen Airlines official, who wishes to remain anonymous.
"For the past three years we have not been state-owned so we have not had this position," says the official, adding that the CAAC made the decision to install Fan.
Having a general secretary of the communist party is only for state-owned companies and Shenzhen Airlines, being privately-owned, has only had the level of vice-secretary of the party, says the official.
The move comes after police, in recent days, took Shenzhen Airlines' major shareholder, Li Zeyuan, in for questioning.
Li had effectively been managing the airline for the past two years but now Shenzhen Airlines president, Li Kun, is making the management decisions, says the official.
The appointment of an Air China executive to Shenzhen Airlines has raised concerns, in the foreign news media, about the future ownership of Shenzhen Airlines.
In 2005, Li Zeyuan's company Shenzhen Huirun Investment put in a joint bid - with China's Bright Oceans Corporation - for Guangdong Development Bank Holding Group's 65% stake in Shenzhen Airlines.
They bid 2.72 billion yuan ($329 million), outbidding Air China which had been keen to take control of the airline. Air China owns 25% of Shenzhen Airlines.
Source: Air Transport Intelligence news
