For Beijing, the impact of vanishing loads is intensified by decisions it took seven years ago, when it tried to fashion three national champions from an industry-wide restructuring. But the mergers, based on three regional airlines and their respective hubs in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou, were done on geo-political rather than commercial grounds. The trio inherited incompatible fleets and even more incompatible management. China Eastern, the weakest of the three, lost money even when volumes were growing at up to 20 per cent a year.
对北京来说,7年前做出的决定加剧了当前航空运量下滑的影响——当时,北京试图通过一次全行业结构重组来打造3家全国顶尖航空公司。但那次以3家航空公司及其各自在北京、上海和广州的枢纽为基础的合并,是出于地缘政治而非商业方面的考虑。这3家公司所继承的机群互不兼容,其管理系统的兼容性甚至更差。3家公司中实力最弱的manbetx3.0 东航(China Eastern),即使在年运量增幅高达20%之时也依然出现亏损。