> China strengthens aviation cooperation with Cuba, > Portugal > > BEIJING, Jan. 18 (Xinhuanet) -- Chinese and Cuban > aviation department held > talks here last Thursday in a bid to further promote > bilateral aviation > communications as well as strengthen cooperation in > technology, investment > and personnel training. > > China has already started preparatory work on > forming aviation links with > Cuba, said Yang Yuanyuan, director of the General > Administration of Civil > Aviation of China (CAAC). > > China and Cuba signed aviation agreement last year. > Airlines from both > countries planned to open routes via a third > destination. AIR CHINA and > CHINA EASTERN AIRLINES already signed aviation > agreements with CUBANA > AIRLINES. And CHINA SOUTHERN AIRLINES will follow > suit next month. > > Since the dismantling of CAAC as state-run > enterprise in 1990 - pretty much > as the > Russians did with AEROFLOT after the collapse of the > old Soviet Union, China > has > not only encouraged privately-owned airlines to > emerge, but also to operate > independently > with Western-made equipment. CHINA SOUTHERN > AIRLINES, one of the > largest and most successful, has become Boeing's > best customer. Unlike Cuba, > > China has dumped old, unprofitable, and > technologically outdated > Russian-built > airliners with modern state-of-the-arts equipment > from Airbus and Boeing. > > Lately CUBANA has been forced into > lease-arrangements with European carriers > such as > the now defunct AIR OUTRE MER, TACA, NOVAIR, and > Italian operator BLUE > PANORAMA in order to operate Western equipment. > However, the > government-owned > airline has not, since the triumph of the > Revolution, ordered a single new > aircraft from the > West. On the other hand, AERO CARIBBEAN, another > state-run carrier which > was born > under Cuba's Communist system, has purchased brand > new ATRs from France's > aircraft manufacturer Aerospatiale. CUBANA has been > in dire need of a > profitable > long-range aircraft for its European services for > quite sometime now, but > opted instead > to replace the old, unprofitable and antiquated > Ilyushin IL-62s with two > Russian-built IL-96s it ordered last year. > > Most of CUBANA's old fleet of Russian-built IL-62s > and TU-154s sit rotting > away > at Havana's Jose Marti Airport. CUBANA has not > replaced the medium-range > Tupolev 154. At one time it operated nine of the > three-engined jetliner. > It is not known if the agreement will provide CUBANA > with modern Western > equipment private Chinese airlines now operate, > under similar lease > arrangements. > > China also signed a code-sharing memorandum of > understanding with Portugal > Wednesday. Even though aviation enterprises not run > direct flights yet, they > > still can carry out cooperation by means of > code-sharing, aviation officials > __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Mail - now with 250MB free storage. Learn more. http://info.mail.yahoo.com/mail_250