China Eastern Airline

Corporate Communication and Reputation Audit


There are three major airlines in china, Air China; China Southern Airline; China Eastern

Airline.

China Eastern Airlines Corporation Limited is at the core of China Eastern Air Holding

Company. Its predecessor is China Eastern Airlines, which was founded in June 1988. Listed

on the Hong Kong, New York and Shanghai stock exchanges in 1997, China Eastern Airlines

became the first listed company in Chinese civil aviation industry. China Eastern has

established an air

transportation

network linking all

corners of the world

with Shanghai.

China Eastern Air

Holding Company,

headquartered in

Shanghai, is one of

the three largest

major air transport

companies in China. The scope of business includes public air transportation, general aviation

and air transport operations and the production and sale of related products, aviation

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equipment and equipment maintenance, passenger air transport, freight services and ground

handling, aircraft leasing, and aviation training and consulting services.

“In January 2010, China Eastern Air Holding Company possessed assets worth a total of

about RMB 108.5 billion Yuan, owned more than 330 large and medium-sized and 18 general

aviation

aircraft,

provided air

service to 151

destinations,

and had over

60,000

employees.”

(2011)

Currently,

China Eastern

Air Holding

Company is

the parent company of 21 subsidiaries. Thus, after years of optimizing and integrating

resources, forming an air transportation network offering services that include aviation food

services, import and export, financial futures, mass media advertising, ticket sales and airport

investment.

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As one of the three major airlines in China, it operates 50 overseas offices and 11 domestic

branches. As an official member of Sky Team, China Eastern has extended its flight network

from Shanghai to 983 cities in 178 countries via close cooperation with Sky Team member

airlines. Flying a fleet of more than 400 long haul and short-haul aircrafts with an average

age of less than seven years, China Eastern serves nearly 70 million travelers annually and

ranks among the world’s top 5 airlines in terms of passenger transportation volume. Mission

and value are very important to company. China eastern airline’s mission and value is to be a

“cherished by staff, preferred by customers, satisfactory to shareholders and trusted by

society” company. The most important thing for airline is safety. China eastern airline is no

exception. On one hand, China Eastern Airline always adheres to high standards. And they

have not accidents in past 8 years. When I worked in China Eastern Airline, I could see many

slogans about safety.

On the other hand, the reputation is also important for airline. China Eastern Airlines

joined the Sky Team on 21 June 2011, to become the 14th member. The decision could

improve the international profile of China Eastern Airline. And also they care about every

passenger’s requirement. For example, in their system, they have a lot of records about whose

need special service. When the passenger book the ticket, they will ask them whether they

need special service, like wheelchair service, vegetarian food and etc. In 2010, China Eastern

Airline officially opened the micro-blog (twitter). And in 2008 they join the Facebook. That

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communication platform helps them to know that passenger’s feeling. They not only focus on

safety and reputation but also they attach great importance on social responsibility.

The sustainable development of an enterprise is interdependent with and closely related to

the sustainable development of the society. China eastern airline has always placed great

importance on technical innovation and application and actively explores new technologies,

models and areas in civil aviation to comply with the environmental protection policy and

energy saving and emission reduction requirements of the PRC. Adhering to the idea of dual

focus on both energy conservation and development and mutual coordination between

development and saving, they advocate the idea of low-carbon flying, energy consumption

reduction, conservation of the environment and create a friendly community and establish a

resource conservative and environmentally friendly enterprise. With the target of lowering

resources and energy consumption, China eastern airline advocates the concept of “low-

carbon flying”. They seek to initiate an operational mode of “Consuming and emitting less

but performing more efficiently” to foster organic and efficiency-oriented growth. Jet fuel

consumption accounted for more than 98% of the energy consumption of the China eastern

airline. More than 90% of the Company’s flights undergo refueling and flying in accordance

with the “low-carbon flying” scheme. “Low-carbon flying” is implemented via standardized

and regulated management. Fuel consumption and carbon emission are lowered through

approaches such as system restrictions, procedural enhancement and technological

innovation.

In 2011, Libya and Egypt outbreak civil war, Yunnan and Japan broke in big earthquakes.

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China eastern airline participated in the evacuation of Chinese citizens from Egypt and Libya,

as well as the support of emergency earthquake transport in Yunnan and Japan. With the

company’s quick response, precise arrangements and its courage to overcome hardship and

difficulties, 53 overtime charter flights were successfully sent to evacuate around 12,000

passengers and provide approximately 143 tones of supplies for the purposes of evacuation,

disaster relief and peacekeeping.

There was an accident in Sep.11, 1998. Chicago tribune reported “SHANGHAI, CHINA

— Seven passengers were injured when a Chinese MD-11 airliner made an emergency

landing Thursday in Shanghai, an airline spokesman said. The passengers aboard the China

Eastern Airlines plane were hurt as they slid down the emergency chutes after the plane

landed at Shanghai’s international airport. The aircraft returned to Shanghai shortly after

taking off for Beijing after the pilot discovered a problem with the front landing gear, the

spokesman said. The MD-11 is the same type of plane that crashed Sept. 2 near Halifax,

Nova Scotia, killing all 229 people on board.”(1998). And today that accident be called “ the

Chinese miracle on the Hudson”. And there is a movie named “Crash Landing” was made by

Shanghai Film Studio based on that accident.

Passenger source is Airline’s future. Every year CAAC (Civil Aviation Administration of

China) has a voting that passages can choose which airline they prefer. In past five years,

China Eastern Airline continues to hold “The Most Popular Airline”. Not only that, China

Eastern Airlines was awarded the “Flight Safety Five-star Award” from CAAC. They also

ranked 14th in the “2011 Top 25 Most Innovative Companies in China” by Fortune Magazine

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(Chinese). And China Eastern Airline was ranked 24th among the “Top 50 Most Valuable

Chinese Brands” by a member of WPP, a world-leading brand communication service group.

On the other side, some passengers didn’t like China Eastern Airlines. For example, from

Skytrax survey (A United Kingdom-based consultancy, the public face of Inflight Research

Services, which has one of the largest airline and airport review and ranking site. It conducts

research for commercial airlines.) A passenger wrote, “Was a disappointing flight. 30 minutes

delay after we boarded the aircraft. FA’s served few cups of water after the takeoff and

weren’t seen for the next 4 hours. Seat uncomfortably narrow with very little legroom. No

individual IFE and movies were played repeatedly. A cold and tasteless sandwich served

before landing. Overall, good value for the money but I will not fly this airline again.” I

found that many passages complained about legroom. That is problem of all Chinese airlines.

I think there are three reasons. First, there are more than 1500 million passengers travels by

plane. But the airline only has 351 planes. The problem is service shortage. So they have two

methods to solve, buy more planes or double up on seating. Buy planes needs times. Then

they have chosen latter. Second reason is that occidental taller than Asian. But some

passengers enjoy their travel. “I flew return Paris CDG-Shanghai-Fukouka, flights were on

time. Aircraft new, luggage was checked all the way through from Paris-Fukuoka and arrived

no problem. Staff friendly. Paris to Shanghai flight had own entertainment station. There

were a wide range of English films. Meals were good and comparable to other economy

airline food. It was Chinese food beef and noodles, pork and rice, seafood and rice, dim sum.

What else would you expect from a Chinese airline.” I also found that many passengers like

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China Eastern Airline’s airplane food. That is good news. Because airplane food is that make

people feeling cold and unpalatable.

When I was living in China. There is a lot of information about China Eastern Airline,

specifically in spring festival travel season. Such as Xinhua News Agency:“ During the

spring festival of 2011, China Eastern Airlines domestic flights will increase more than 2100

class, Hong Kong and Taiwan flights will increase to more than 150 classes, international

flights will increase by more than 900 classes, for a total increase and adjust the flight of

more than 3,200 classes. These flights focused on travel and return home hotspot

city.”(2011).

It is commonly believed that China Eastern Airline is a socially responsible enterprise.

They promise conservation of the environment, and focus on make contributions to the

society. But in some ways, China Eastern Airline also need to improve. Here are some

suggestions. First, they should listen attentively to junior employees, such as flight attendant

and customer-service workers. Passengers often use different methods to complain airline.

Junior employees communicate with passenger every day. They are a reliable source of

information. Then I suggest that company could get collection information from junior

employees to help them planning strategy. Second I will suggest that the making variation

service brand objective. That means to attract more high-end passenger and to meet ordinary

passenger needs. For example, airline can provided comfortable airline seats and special

foods to first class passengers. Third, there is no doubt that keeps good communication and

cooperation with media is very important. This requires company factual and transparent

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communications. When the company keeps higher transparent for social media, they will

suffer from heavier pressure. And that pressure help airline improve their service.

All in all, China Eastern Airline is getting more prosperous year by year. China eastern

airline raise its service quality and improve its hardware facilities. In the future, China eastern

airline will become a premium airline that is globally competitive.

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Documents

China Eastern Airline