Hyundai, Kia stocks accelerate on fallout from Toyota debacle: Shares of Hyundai Motor and its affiliate Kia Motors continue to thrive despite the recent erosion of global stock markets, fueled by strong financial performance and turmoil at rival Toyota. (Via South Korea News.)
Expert: China’s space technology close to moon landing capability: After years of development, China’s space technology is close to moon landing capability, said Fu Yiqing, space expert and consultant to the Shanghai Institute of Space Propulsion (SISP). Fu, also a senior member of American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA), said this during an interview with reporters from China News Service. New generations of Chinese taikonauts are studying moon landing technology. (Via China – People’s Daily Online.)
China seizes leading hacker training website: Police in central China’s Hubei Province have seized the country’s biggest hacker training website and arrested three suspects, the local public security department said. The three, who ran the Black Hawk Safety Net, were suspected of offering online hacker tools, a crime that was newly listed in China’s Criminal Law last year. Police have also frozen more than 1.7 million yuan (250,000 U.S. dollars) in assets and confiscated nine web servers, five computers and a Honda Accord. (Via China – People’s Daily Online.)
China Unicom Opens First 3G Mobile Phone Flagship Store In Beijing: Chinese telecom operator China Unicom has announced that its first flagship store under the company’s 3G brand ‘Wo’ has been opened in Beijing. Located in the southern hall of China Unicom’s headquarters building in Financial Street, the three-floor Wo flagship store covers a total area of about 800 square meters. (Via ChinaRetailNews.com.)
JAL to keep American Airlines link: Japanese media say Japan Airlines, which filed for bankruptcy last month, has decided to keep its current tie-up with American Airlines – the Oneworld Alliance. There had been widespread reports that it might defect to SkyTeam under Delta Air Lines. The carrier feared that the switch would confuse its passengers and that it could loose its antitrust immunity from US authorities because it would dominate the trans-Pacific market. (Via RTHK On Internet – Finance News.)
A Tesco store in Beijing
Britain’s Tesco Opens Its First Store In China’s Anhui Province: The British retailer Tesco has opened its first hypermarket in China’s Anhui province: on Suixi Road in Luyang district, Hefei. Covering a construction area of over 20,000 square meters, Tesco’s Suixi road store has been designated as the retailer’s flagship store in Anhui. (Via ChinaRetailNews.com.)
China’s Alibaba Buys New Domain Name For Internet Wholesale Business: Chinese B2B e-commerce group Alibaba has bought a new domain name, 1688.com, for the launch of its new online wholesale business. According to information from the domain name enquiry tool Whois, the current owner of 1688.com is Alibaba.com. The link leads to a page which says Alibaba will soon launch its 1688.com wholesale mart and the company will invest CNY100 million to promote this service via China Central Television. (Via ChinaTechNews.com.)
Taiwan firms urged to explore China market via Internet: The founder of China’s Internet giant Alibaba urged Taiwanese businesses Tuesday to explore the Chinese market via the Internet. ‘Taiwan’s small companies should be able to sell their products to China through the Internet,’ said Jack Ma, chairman and chief executive officer of the Alibaba Group, at an economic forum in Taipei. He said the Internet is the best means of allowing Taiwanese companies to enter the Chinese market ‘at the lowest possible cost.’ (Via Taiwan Headlines – Business.)
Citigroup Hires Hong Kong Heavyweight: Citigroup has named former Morgan Stanley Asia chairman Alasdair Morrison, a longtime heavyweight in Hong Kong’s business world, to the new role of senior adviser. (Via Hong Kong News latest RSS headlines – Hong Kong Herald.com.)
JAL files for bankruptcy in record failure: Japan Airlines Corp. filed for bankruptcy Tuesday under the Corporate Rehabilitation Law in the biggest non-financial corporate failure in the postwar period. The country’s flagship carrier is expected to continue flying and honor tickets with government assurances for lifeline funds, while undergoing a three-year rehabilitation process that is expected to entail massive cuts in jobs and in unprofitable routes, both domestic and international. (Japan Times) (Via News On Japan.)
Japan Airlines is a participant in the new open skies agreement.
Japan Airlines and All Nippon Airways made a pitch for improvement in their operations, with JAL President Haruka Nishimatsu saying in a statement, ‘‘We will aim for providing better services for customers through managing air routes efficiently and establishing a strong network.’‘
Japan’s biggest airline, currently restructuring itself under government supervision, has been in negotiations with Delta Air Lines and American Airlines separately for a possible capital and operation tie-up.
In the wake of the open skies accord, JAL appears to now be accelerating its efforts to choose a partner.
In a similar move, JAL’s rival ANA President Shinichiro Ito also released a comment, pledging, ‘‘We will take strategies that will improve the convenience of the users of our services such as increasing flights to American cities and selecting a U.S. partner as early as possible.’‘
Delta released a welcoming statement, saying the accord will provide ‘‘benefits for consumers, airline employees and investors,’’ and expressed hope that it will enable Delta and JAL ‘‘to engage in deeper and more effective cooperation, producing greater benefits for the carriers and their customers.’‘
American Airlines’ Senior Vice President Will Ris also praised the newly struck deal, saying in a statement, ‘‘This open skies agreement will effectively reset the playing field and enable new working relationships.’‘ – read more at JapanToday.com…
Despite financial woes, Japan Airlines remains a desirable partner
American’s chief financial officer, Tom Horton, told reporters that the offer is “far superior” to the $1 billion rival proposal from Delta Air Lines and its SkyTeam partners.
He refused to describe the composition of the offer, or say how much of the money would come from American. But he said the proposal by American, its oneworld partners and private equity firm TPG Inc. is part of a larger restructuring plan to get JAL back on solid footing.
Horton and his team asserted that if JAL enhances its links with American, over a 10-year period it would gain additional revenues of some $700 million.
Delta, meanwhile, is trying to lure JAL away from its partnership with American.
Aviation consultant Mark Kiefer of CRA International in Boston said the battle is far from over.
“It does sound like it has the potential to drag on further,” Kiefer said. “There’s a lot at stake here, especially given the importance of the Japanese market and the Asian market to all of these carriers.”
Demand for air travel has been under intense pressure from the global economic slowdown, but U.S. carriers that compete internationally know it will be important to have a strong presence overseas when things rebound. Airlines can reap a premium for long-haul seats, particularly business and first class.
Japan Airlines has been teetering for years, hammered by surging fuel prices, global competition and an image problem caused by a series of safety lapses. It lost $1.5 billion in the first half ended September and has obtained approval for government loans in recent weeks to avoid grounding flights. The airline remains attractive as a partner because of its extensive routes in Japan and other important markets in Asia. – read more at JapanToday.com…
