At 9 a.m. London time, Li Guangyu received a message from Zhao Wenhua about the status of the China Airlines incident.
Li Guangyu said to Zhao Wenhua on the phone: "Don't get too involved in this aspect. Let them both resolve the rest. Your most important thing now is to strengthen the construction of the group's reserve talents and the construction of the group's basic support facilities."
"At present, Airbus's new generation A330 has undergone many long-term test flights and is expected to be put on sale early next year. The group must be prepared for this."
The current main customers of this aircraft are Xiangjiang Airlines and Cathay Pacific Airways. If not for the rapid expansion of the Lee Group, they would not have started the development of long-range aircraft in advance.
Airbus's original plan was to first occupy the short- and medium-haul aviation market and then develop long-range and ultra-long-range civil aviation aircraft. After all, short-haul routes are still the main focus in Europe.
However, the rapid development of Xiangjiang Airlines forced them to enter the development of long-range and even ultra-long-range aircraft in advance. For this plan, Airbus invested more than 2 billion US dollars to develop the Airbus A330 and A340 models to compete with Boeing.
747 series aircraft.
After years of development and test flights, the A330 has now reached the standards for commercial sale. Once local authorities approve the A330 as an aircraft-worthy model, they will be able to sell it externally.
Currently, Xiangjiang Airlines and Cathay Pacific Airways are relatively short of long-range and ultra-long-range aircraft. Previously, Airbus's aircraft were mainly medium-range. Even if a batch of aircraft later reached a range of more than 7,000 kilometers, they still could not satisfy the needs of the two major airlines.
needs.
Many of the routes of the two major airlines are across the Pacific, and some even cross the Eurasian continent. The voyages are very long, and medium and long-range aircraft simply cannot meet the needs of these routes.
Currently, these routes are operated by Boeing 747 aircraft. As the number of routes continues to increase, the existing Boeing 747s of the two major airlines are simply not enough.
In addition, the relationship between the Lee Consortium and the American Consortium has not been harmonious in the past two years, so the two major airlines have not purchased Boeing model passenger aircraft in recent years.
Zhao Wenhua is the happiest about the group's expansion. He used to be the deputy general manager of Cathay Pacific. At that time, Cathay Pacific only had about 20 aircraft. In the 1970s, it was already a very good airline in Asia.
In addition to the giant airlines in the world, airlines in many countries and regions in Southeast Asia only have about a dozen aircraft.
Since joining Xiangjiang Airlines, the number of its aircraft has become larger and larger. Currently, there are 150 passenger aircraft and 30 cargo aircraft. Think of China Airlines in Baodao, which currently only has two cargo aircraft. Zhao Wenhua himself decided to change jobs
I feel very lucky to work at the Lee Foundation.
He said to Li Guangyu: "Li Sheng, I know how to do it. Regarding our maintenance and support bases, we are also stepping up the expansion. I believe that next year, the maintenance and support capabilities of each major base can be doubled."
After Li Guangyu hung up the phone with Zhao Wenhua, he began to think about the airline's rear layout issues.
At present, the layout in Asia is almost complete. There is probably no chance for the mainland. In the future, Air China, China Eastern Airlines and China Southern will dominate the world. He wants to establish a maintenance and support base there and open a link between the mainland and the mainland.
Flights are very difficult.
Unfortunately, the relationship with the American consortium is not very good now, and it is not easy for him to go to the American market to grab food.
It is relatively easy for the British side. At present, it should be relatively easy for him to establish such a civil aviation maintenance and support base.
Li Guangyu said to Gan Qin: "Go and contact the person in charge of Heathrow International Airport and discuss with him the airport to become the hub airport of our Xiangjiang Airlines and build it according to the scale we have in Taoyuan."
Gan Qin knew that Li Guangyu was preparing for the airline to expand in Western Europe. Heathrow Airport is the busiest airport in Europe. Xiangjiang Airlines uses this as its hub airport, and its development prospects are worth looking forward to.
She responded: "Li Sheng, I will contact the general manager of the airport management company later. It's just that the company's senior management can't make the decision on this matter yet. I suggest that Zhang Ziyu communicate with Thatcher at the same time. We can do it at the same time as soon as possible."
achieve the goal.”
At present, the management of Heathrow Airport still belongs to the government. If Xiangjiang Airlines wants to enter, it mainly needs the government's consent.
…
At three o'clock in the afternoon, Zhang Ziyu came to Thatcher's office. She had been here dozens of times and was already very familiar with it.
Next year will be another general election in the UK, which is why Thatcher is determined to pursue privatization reform.
The development of the Lee Group in England over the years has already been very close to the Conservative Party. Next year, the Lee Group will also contribute to this effort to ensure that the Conservative Party can continue to be re-elected. Only in this way can the development of the Lee Group in England be achieved.
will be faster.
Thatcher and Zhang Ziyu were also very familiar with each other. After Zhang Ziyu sat down, she said with a smile: "Ms. Zhang, do you need any help from our government when you come today?"
"Madam, I am here to meet with you this time. We Li Sheng hope that Heathrow Airport will become the hub airport of Xiangjiang Airlines, so as to better serve the citizens of London and even the UK."
The relationship between the two was already quite familiar, and Zhang Ziyu did not have too many polite remarks to Thatcher, but directly explained his purpose of visit.
She was even preparing to privatize the airline. Naturally, Thatcher would not refuse Xiangjiang Airlines' wish to use Heathrow as its hub airport.
However, she is now selling British European Airlines, and no strong force has taken over the business yet. She wants to see if the Li Group is willing to take over the company.
She said: "Ms. Zhang, as for Xiangjiang Airlines' hope that Heathrow Airport will become one of your main airports, I personally very much agree and welcome it, but there are many things involved, and I'm afraid it won't be decided for a while.
, I do have an idea that can make you the main airport in many of our UK airports."
"Madam, do you have any good suggestions?"
Zhang Ziyu knew that Thatcher probably wanted the Lee Consortium to take over the business again. In fact, she didn't need Thatcher to tell her, but she knew that Thatcher probably wanted the Lee Consortium to acquire the British airline.
The facts did not go beyond Zhang Ziyu's expectations. Thatcher suggested that the Lee Group acquire British European Airlines.
Zhang Ziyu said: "Madam, I also know that this airline has the top three passenger traffic in the UK as its main airport. However, we currently have limited financial resources and really do not have the ability to acquire this company. I believe that as long as Madam is willing, Xiangjiang Airlines will operate at Heathrow Airport."
It is very easy to establish a logistics and maintenance base."
Now the Lee Group has no intention of taking over British European Airlines. Accepting that company is a waste of money except for the routes. Those aircraft are old models and are not suitable for Xiangjiang Airlines' plan.
.
Thatcher was not discouraged when Zhang Ziyu refused, so she just asked.
She said: "Ms. Zhang, I will communicate with government officials and airport executives about what you said before I can give you a reply. You can also convey my opinions to Mr. Li and see what Mr. Li's opinion is."