Singapore Airlines subsidiary SIA Cargo has signed an agreement to form a joint-venture cargo airline in China with Dahlia Investments, a subsidiary of Singapore government investment arm Temasek Holdings, and Chinese state-owned enterprise China Great Wall Industry (CGWIC).
Great Wall Airlines will be incorporated in Shanghai and will begin operations in the first half of 2006, says SIA Cargo. The carrier adds that the new airline will operate freighters domestically as well as on routes to Europe, east Asia and the USA.
"SIA Cargo's investment in the joint venture over the next three years is projected at 250 million yuan [$30 million]," says SIA Cargo, which will have a 25% stake – "the maximum that a foreign investor is allowed".
Dahlia Investments, a wholly owned subsidiary of Singapore government investment arm Temasek Holdings, will have 24%, while the Chinese partner CGWIC will have 51%. Temasek is Singapore Airlines' majority shareholder.
SIA Cargo says CGWIC has been chartering cargo aircraft from republics of the former Soviet Union and "has up to one-third of the charter market share".
Great Wall Airlines is not related to the Great Wall Airlines that China Eastern Airlines bought in 2001 and later folded into its own business.
- Leading Chinese aircraft maintenance company Sichuan Haite Group is planning to establish an airline called Western Airlines, which will be based in Chengdu. Local news reports say Western Airlines has registered capital of 100 million yuan ($12 million) and five shareholders.
The reports add that the two largest shareholders – Sichuan Haite Group and private investor Hui Jianli – each hold a 30% stake in the airline.
LEITHEN FRANCIS/SINGAPORE
Source: Flight International
