Features | AsiaLynx

Marriott to double hotels in China

China 08.06.2010 Comments Off

The JW Marriott hotel, Beijing

By Jing Jin (China Daily) – SHANGHAI – Marriott International Inc, the largest US hotel chain, plans to double its hotels in China in the next five years, taking advantage of an expected jump in domestic tourism as the world’s third-largest economy expands.

China is expected to be the world’s single largest source of international tourism and will become the biggest travel destination over the next 10 years, JW Marriott Jr, chairman and chief executive officer of Marriott, said in a statement released at a media briefing in Shanghai.

“It’s growing very quickly,” Arne Sorenson, Marriott president and chief operating officer, said at the briefing at the World Expo in Shanghai. “By the end of this year, revenue in same store hotels is expected to grow over 20 percent in China.”

Marriott, based in Bethesda, Maryland, expects to have up to 90 hotels in China by 2015, up from 46, the company said.

China is Marriott’s largest market outside North America, with sales from the nation of 1.4 billion people accounting for less than 10 percent of revenue.

China’s economy grew 11.9 percent in the first quarter from a year earlier, the fastest pace in almost three years.

More than 4 million visitors, an average of 200,000 a day, have entered Shanghai’s $44 billion World Expo park since its May 1 opening.

Hotel and tourism stocks are likely to extend gains this year as a jump in visitors during the World Expo may increase earnings by 20 percent, Guotai Junan Securities Co said last month.

Home Inns & Hotels Management Inc, China’s second-biggest budget hotel operator, said in March that the World Expo will boost room rates by as much as 20 percent, and it’s adding 38 percent more hotels nationwide. …read more at ChinaDaily.com…

Tags: China, Home Inns & Hotels, Marriott, Shanghai, World Expo
Boeing CEO says China to continue to be US major market

China 29.05.2010 Comments Off

Boeing's new 787 will be a big seller in China

CHICAGO (Xinhua): China will continue to be both major market and partner to the United States, supporting thousands of US jobs and contributing significantly to the US balance of trade, said CEO of a Fortune 100 company in Chicago on Wednesday.

James McNerney Jr, chairman, president and CEO of the Boeing company, made the statement at a luncheon organized by The Chicago Council On Global Affairs as part of its Corporate Program: Focus on China.

McNerney started his speech by commending Secretary of State Hilary Clinton and Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner for the progress their teams made this week at the Sino-US Strategic and Economic Dialogue in Beijing.

“It is vitally important that US leaders are engaged in supporting US trade relationships. Expanded engagement in international markets, combined with the recovery of our financial service markets, is critical to accelerating our overall economic recovery,” he said.

In 1972, then President Richard Nixon landed in Beijing aboard Air Force One – a Boeing 707 – marking the first visit of a US president to China. Boeing has been one of the few American companies present in China since diplomatic and economic channels were reopened.

“That Boeing 707 is truly the game-changing airplane of its time. China ordered ten Boeing 707 jetliners soon after the visit, setting in motion a tremendously productive relationship between a company (Boeing) and a country (China) – a relationship that continues today and in many ways has become symbolic of the four decades of cooperation between our two nations,” McNerney said.

When talking about the significant changes in China, McNerney said, “One of the most important changes in China that I have witnessed – the rapid growth in personal incomes. A growing middle class in China is dramatically reshaping the country’ s domestic economy and has global economic impact too.”

Regarding Boeing’s growing business with China, the CEO exclaimed, “China has bought more than any country in the world (except the US). It has a total of 1,560 airplanes (almost 53 percent of them are Boeing airplanes), and the average age of these planes is just six and a half years – meaning that China also has one of the youngest fleets in the region.”

Commenting on the relationship between China and the United States, he noted, “I believe the US and China are already interdependent and growing more so every day. In fact, our interdependence with China is key to the US achieving President Obama’ s goal of doubling America’s exports over the next five years – an increase projected to support two million American jobs at a time when we really need them.”

“I expect that the US-China relationship will always be complex, but that global interdependence in business will help keep both nations motivated to work out their differences constructively,” he added. – read more at ChinaDaily.com…

Tags: Airlines, Aviation, Boeing, China, United States
Three Chinese Phone Makers in Global Top Ten

China, Hong Kong 21.05.2010 1 Comment

ZTE Corporation, based in Shenzhen, is currently the eighth-ranked handset maker in the world, according to the Gartner Group.

By Zhu Shenshen (Shanghai Daily) – THREE Chinese firms, two in the mainland and one from Hong Kong, have been listed in the world’s top 10 handset makers, thanks to the growing market demand in Asia, a United States-based research firm said today.

By the end of the first quarter, Shenzhen-based ZTE Corp ranked No. 8, followed by Hong Kong-based G-Five with the No. 9 position, which ranked in the top 10 for the first time. Shenzhen-based firm Huawei Technologies ranked No. 10, according to Gartner Inc, a US-based IT research firm.

The combined market shares of the top five mobile handset manufacturers, including Nokia, Samsung, LG, RIM (Research in Motion) and Sony Ericsson, dropped from 73.3 percent in the first quarter of 2009 to 70.7 percent in the same period this year, according to Gartner.

ZTE, which expects mobile phone revenue to grow 35 percent annually in 2010, grabbed a 1.7 percent share of the global market, up 0.4 percent from last year.

China’s mobile subscriber base will reach 840 million units by 2010 and more than 1 billion in 2012, according to Informa, a Switzerland-based research firm. — read more at ShanghaiDaily.com…

Tags: China, G-Five, Hong Kong, Huawei, LG, Nokia, RIMM, Samsung, Shenzhen, Sony Ericsson, ZTE
McDonalds Seeks New Franchise Partners in China

China 06.05.2010 6 Comments

By Donny Kwok (Shanghai Daily) – MCDONALD’S Corp, the world’s biggest fast-food chain operator, is looking for new franchise partners in China, expanding a six-year-old trial program in its fastest growing market, a spokeswoman said yesterday.

McDonald’s relies heavily on franchises in more mature markets such as the United States, but has almost exclusively opened self-operated stores in China since entering the market two decades ago.

The company launched a pilot franchise program in China, but has so far limited it to three franchisees running six restaurants.

It moved to expand the process in April, posting information on its China Website inviting new franchise applicants as it accelerates a plan to double its China network to more than 2,000 outlets by 2013.

McDonald’s had asked interested parties to prepare at least 2 million yuan (US$293,000) to cover equipment purchases, joining fee and other expenses, a spokeswoman said. She added that the company would initially experiment with new franchisees in Jiangsu Province near Shanghai. – read more at ShanghaiDaily.com…

Tags: China, franchise, McDonald's, Shanghai
Starbucks to take China by storm with instant coffee

China 02.05.2010 9 Comments

Starbucks VIA Ready Brew instant coffee is offered at a Starbucks coffee shop in Chicago, Illinois. Starbucks instant coffee is already available in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom and Japan. (Scott Olson/For China Daily)

By YU TIANYU (China Daily) – BEIJING: Global coffee chain Starbucks Corp is planning to launch instant coffee products in China, a region it believes will be its largest market outside North America, surpassing Japan.

Wang Jinlong, chairman of Starbucks in China, told China Daily that the company is presently working on market surveys and customer preferences for such products.

Starbucks Chief Executive Officer Howard Schultz said the company expects to sell more than $1 billion of its instant coffee, called Via Coffee Essence, worldwide after it started offering the powdered mix in Japan, the world’s biggest market for instant coffee since early this month.

The product is already available in the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom.

“During the last five decades, there have been very few new products, but great progress has been made in the world’s instant coffee market,” Wang said.

“Starbucks has taken over 20 years to revolutionize its offerings and we are offering high-quality instant coffee that customers can enjoy anytime and anywhere,” he added.

Instant coffee accounts for just 2 to 3 percent of coffee consumption in the US, he said. But, the company is convinced of the huge potential in China and expects to launch the products soon.

According to market research firm Euromonitor International, coffee sales in China could reach $3.6 billion by 2011 from $2.4 billion in 2006.

Instant coffee currently makes up the biggest chunk of China’s coffee industry with Nestle’s Nescaf and Kraft’s Maxwell House the major players in the market.

Starbucks operates more than 16,000 outlets in over 50 countries. Since entering the mainland in 1999, it has 376 outlets in 26 cities, mainly in coastal regions.

Wang said the company would focus more on inland cities in the future.

The company expects second- and third-tier cities to become significant markets after its expansion.

It has opened 14 outlets in Chengdu and 10 outlets in Chongqing.

Meanwhile, the company will look to further expand its presence in first-tier cities like Beijing, Shanghai and Shenzhen. — read more at ChinaDaily.com…

Tags: Beijing, China, coffee, instant coffee, Kraft, Nestle, Shanghai, Shenzhen, Starbucks
Coca Cola on track to open two more China plants

China 29.04.2010 Comments Off

By Zhang Fengming – COCA-COLA Co will open two more plants in China as it pushes forward its three-year, US$2 billion investment plan in its third-largest market, its chairman and chief executive officer said yesterday in Beijing.

The Atlanta-based company will open plants in Guangdong Province and Hohhot in Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region this year, Coca-Cola Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Muhtar Kent said.

The world’s largest soft drink maker also started construction of a plant in Henan Province this year.

“Our US$2 billion investment plan is on track,” Kent said. “China is a tremendous growth market for us and a market of great investment, partners and innovation.”

The company opened three plants in China last year in Xinjiang, Jiangxi, and Hubei. The company is also raising capacity at existing facilities.

“Without any doubt, we are completely in belief and completely allied with the prospects of what China’s future development holds,” Kent said.

Coca-Cola’s business in China grew 16 percent in the first quarter of this year. It has maintained double-digit growth in China for 38 quarters.

Coke has invested US$2 billion in China since 1979 and created 40,000 jobs directly. It creates 10 jobs indirectly with each direct job.

China is the world’s second-biggest ready-to-go non-alcoholic drink market after the United States.

The 58-year-old Turkish American businessman steering the American company said he expects China to become the biggest non-alcoholic beverage market “in a fairly short period of time” and one day become Coca-Cola’s biggest market.

“Everything is becoming possible,” Kent said. “It’s not a question of if, it’s a question only of when.”

The company covers segments including soda, water, tea, dairy and juice in China. – read more at ShanghaiDaily.com

Tags: China, Coca Cola, Guangdong, Henan, Hohat, Hubei, Jiangxi, soft drinks, Xinjiang
American Airlines’ new Chicago-Beijing route hits air pocket

China 29.04.2010 3 Comments

American Airlines will use the Boeing 777 for its new Chicago-Beijing service.

American Airlines on Tuesday called off plans for a big celebration at the Beijing’s airport where Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders were scheduled to greet the landing of its inaugural nonstop flight from Chicago to Beijing.

The Texas-based carrier cited a disagreement with Chinese aviation authorities over take-off and landing times in Beijing and rescheduled the new service for May 4 as it tries to resolve the dispute.

The cancellation of the flight is expected to delay American’s efforts to seize the upper hand in the world’s fastest-growing commercial aviation market, which is a key driver in the global aviation industry’s recovery.

But the new route will remain grounded if American cannot reach an agreement with Chinese aviation officials about “commercially viable operating slots”, the airline said in a statement.

“I don’t want to speculate what might happen. But there is the possibility that more cancellations will happen if we do not get this resolved,” said Theo Panagiotoulias, American’s vice-president for the Pacific.

American had scheduled the Boeing 777 flight to arrive at Beijing Capital International Airport at 1:55 pm on Tuesday and depart Beijing later in the afternoon.

It said Chinese authorities only allowed the flight to land at 2:20 am and depart at 4:20 am from Beijing, Asia’s busiest airport.

“Simply put, American has not received commercially viable landing and takeoff slots,” the statement said.

The airline said it is currently rebooking customers on other flights to get them to their destinations. Customers are also being offered full refunds or the opportunity to travel on American at a later date.

American had sold about 240 seats on the inaugural flight from Chicago to Beijing and about the same number on the return flight, said Panagiotoulias. – read more at People’s Daily Online…

Tags: American Airlines, Beijing, Boeing 777, Chicago, China
US Aerospace firm wins COMAC C919 deal in China

China 24.04.2010 1 Comment

Scheduled to fly in 2016, the COMAC C919 will be China's first large commercial jetliner.

People’s Daily Online, April 23, 2010 – US Aerospace firm Hamilton Sundstrand said it has won a $1 billion long-term contract to provide the electric power generation and distribution systems for China’s first single-aisle C919 aircraft, beating rivals including General Electric Co.

A source close to the deal told China Daily that Hamilton Sundstrand will form a joint-venture partnership with Aviation Industry Corporation of China (AVIC) System Co Ltd to develop and manufacture the electrical system, as stated in a letter of intent signed on April 15 in Xi’an, Shaanxi province.

The C919, China’s first large commercial jetliner developed by the Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China Ltd (COMAC), is expected to take flight in 2016.

Shanghai-based COMAC aims to sell more than 2,000 of the 150-seat single-aisle planes over the next 20 years, challenging Airbus and Boeing in both the domestic and global markets.

Hamilton Sundstrand, a subsidiary of United Technologies Corp, estimated in a statement on its website that the deal would be worth more than $1 billion in revenue over the life of the program.

“Hamilton Sundstrand is honored to partner with COMAC to provide the electric system on the new C919 aircraft,” said Hamilton Sundstrand President Alain Bellemare.

“With this agreement, Hamilton Sundstrand continues to play a large role in the Chinese aviation industry’s rapid growth.”

The contract is expected to contribute to United Technologies Corp’s estimated 2010 earnings of between $54 billion and $55 billion for 2010.

United Technologies Corp, which also makes Pratt & Whitney jet engines and Sikorsky helicopters, said on Wednesday its first quarter profit jumped 20 percent, the first increase in a year as the industrial conglomerate cited its efforts to cut costs and boost productivity.

United Technologies rose $2.73, or 3.7 percent, to $76.93 in New York Stock Exchange trading on Wednesday.

Hamilton Sundstrand is a key supplier on COMAC’s 90-seat ARJ21 regional jet, including the electric power, high-lift actuation and fire protection systems. — read more at People’s Daily Online…

Tags: Airbus, Airlines, Boeing, C919, China, COMAC, General Electric, Hamilton Sundstrand, Shanghai, United Technologies
Wynn Resorts considers further expansion, headquarters move to Macau

China 23.04.2010 Comments Off

The Wynn Macau. Steve Wynn is reportedly considering moving his company's corporate headquarters from Las Vegas to Macau.

HONG KONG (MarketWatch) — Casino magnate Steve Wynn said he plans to build a third major casino in Macau and will consider relocating the Las Vegas headquarters of publicly held Wynn Resorts to the Chinese gambling hub.

Wynn, during an interview Wednesday to promote the launch of Encore Macau, told CNBC he is looking at shifting the company headquarters to Macau, without providing details.

Wynn Resorts /quotes/comstock/15*!wynn/quotes/nls/wynn (WYNN 89.71, -0.21, -0.23%) reportedly gets about 60% of its revenue from operations in Macau. Its local unit, Wynn Macau, is one of the six licensed casino operators in the territory. – read more at MarketWatch.com…

Tags: China, gaming, Las Vegas, Macau, Wynn Resorts
China Eastern backs SkyTeam partnership

China 18.04.2010 Comments Off

Joining the SkyTeam will help China Eastern Airlines fend off the competition from major rivals and share more resources with other members. (Agencies)

By Wang Ying (China Daily) – SHANGHAI – China Eastern Airlines said on Friday it would sign a memorandum of understanding to join global airline alliance SkyTeam.

“What we have signed is a preliminary agreement. And after a year when China Eastern fulfils all the requirements of SkyTeam, we will become its official member,” Luo Zhuping, company board secretary, told China Daily.

The Shanghai-listed airline had been the only one of China’s top three carriers not to be a member of any global alliance.

Analysts said joining the alliance will help the airlines fend off the competition from major rivals and share more resources with other members.

Liu Shaoyong, chairman of China Eastern, said earlier this week the company was in talks with all three global alliances, including Star Alliance and Oneworld. Sources with knowledge of the matter told China Daily that all three alliances were lobbying the carrier with favorable conditions.

Currently, both Shanghai Airlines and Air China belong to Star Alliance, and the two carriers share a lot of resources in term of customers, flight transition and air ticket booking on the platform. Guangzhou-based China Southern Airlines is member of SkyTeam.

“The airlines’ choice is easy to understand,” said Yao Jun, an aviation analyst at China Merchants Securities. “As former chairman of China Southern Airlines, Liu would like to join forces with China Southern to compete against the nation’s most profitable airlines, flag carrier Air China Ltd,” Yao said.

This also marks a major victory for SkyTeam which has sought to expand its membership in the Asia-Pacific region, one of the world’s fastest growing aviation markets. – read more at ChinaDaily.com…

Tags: Airlines, China, China Eastern, Shanghai, SkyTeam