Boom in US visas elevates Air China's business, exec says

Air China Ltd has seen business pick up this year due to relaxed visa-application procedures and shorter waiting times for Chinese travelers to the United States, an executive of the nation's flag carrier said.

"I have seen significant progress in the past year," Chi Zhihang, Air China's general manager for North America, told China Daily.

US consulates in China issued over 1 million visas during the federal government's fiscal year from October 2010 through September 2011, an increase of more than 40 percent from the previous year.

"You can imagine what a tremendous boon this has been for an airline company like ours," Chi said.

Air China recently shifted its daily flights between Los Angeles and Beijing from four-engine Boeing 777-400 jets to the two-engine Boeing 777-300ER, helping save the carrier about 40 percent in fuel consumption.

"Later this year and in early 2013, the New York and San Francisco routes are expected to be upgraded to the same aircraft as well," Chi said.

A naturalized US citizen, Chi is the first foreign national to be hired as a senior executive in China's civil aviation history. The 49-year-old Beijing native has helped oversee development of one of the most important markets for Air China.

Shortly after joining the airline in 2004, Chi began advocating looser US visa policies that facilitate Chinese travel. He has given speeches and met with US government officials about his cause.

In September 2011, the executive complained during a summit hosted by Washington Post Live that US visa-application rules were too complicated for Chinese visitors.

Chinese companies often find non-business-related issues arise when they come to the US to do business, such as obtaining a visa, Chi told his audience of US business leaders and US-China experts.

"It's getting easier and easier to do business in China as the country is becoming more and more open to business, but the US has the tendency of becoming less and less open to business. My biggest challenge in doing business here is that I cannot get enough people," he said, referring to potential Chinese passengers bound for the US.

A year later, Chi has seen "very interesting results" on the issue. He praised Gary Locke, the US ambassador to China and a former commerce secretary, because he "keenly understands how important commerce and business are to bilateral relations".

Since becoming the US envoy to China late last year, Locke has worked to address complaints over visa procedures, Chi said.

"We have met many times and exchanged notes on the visa issue in the past six months. Every single time, he was able to tell me about some progress."

Besides the increase in US visas from China, waiting times for applicants have shrunk dramatically, from as long as 100 days two years ago to about two days currently, Chi said.

While relaxed visa rules are a boost for all of China's international airlines, the Air China executive is mainly concerned with filling seats.

The flag carrier reported that first-half profits plummeted 77 percent, to 944.5 million yuan ($148.6 million), due to higher fuel costs, reduced travel demand and losses from foreign-exchange transactions. In the first six months of 2011, Air China's net profit was 4.06 billion yuan.

The airline - one of China's three State-owned carriers - also faces stepped-up competition from its domestic rivals, particularly China Southern Airlines Co and China Eastern Airlines Corp. China Southern recently began flying the Airbus A380, the world's biggest passenger jet, on its Los Angeles-Guangzhou route.

"To be more competitive in the airline market, Air China has made great efforts in enhancing service for customers in recent years," Chi said.

"We used to get complaints from angry customers who had to wait 40 minutes when calling our service line," said Alan Chan, a supervisor at Air China's North America call center in Los Angeles. "Now we have a team of 50 people in the call center, and the average waiting time is only 20 seconds."

Contact the writer at chenjia@chinadailyusa.com.