Interview with Zhao Quanzhen, Air China's country manager in India.

Question: Any plans to connect more destinations in India with China?

Answer: When we first came to India, we wanted to start flights on the Mumbai-Beijing route, but then changed our plans and connected Delhi-Beijing with four flights a week. Now we are looking at Mumbai, for which we are, currently, awaiting orders from the head office. Kolkata is another Indian city, which is under consideration. In about six months, we will add another flight on the Delhi-Beijing route and then move towards a daily service. We are already experiencing high yield on the Delhi-Beijing route.

Question: What is your strategy for India?

Answer: We want to be a major airline in India in the coming years. We are focusing on business or corporate travellers, leisure travellers and transit movement (mainly towards North America and Australia). We have more than 50 per cent business travellers travelling on our airline and we aim to consolidate this segment further. Every year we introduce at least 20 new aircraft and have booked 20 aircraft of the Boeing 787 series and 20 from the Airbus series. We are prepared to utilise A330 on our Indian routes.

Question: The bilateral agreement signed between the two countries in 2005, clearly states that Air China can operate from five major points in India and can fly 42 flights per week out of India. Why are you under utilising the rights of the agreement?

Answer: Yes, the bilateral agreement does state that we can operate 42 flights out of five major cities in India. Our policy was to start with fewer flights and plan an expansion after studying the market. Within five years, we will fly all 42 flights to India. The airline has been recently added to the prestigious Star Alliance and we are quite happy with the current scenario.

Question: Air China is the official airline partner for the 2008 Olympics to be held in China? How do you plan to woo Indian tourists for the event?

Answer: We are all geared up for the event. It's a known fact that tourist inflow increases to the country where such events are held. We have been given a target for the duration of the Olympics, which, however, I can't divulge the figures. We are offering varied packages, including game tickets and hotel stay for premium passengers and game tickets for economy passengers. The packages are ready, and we have already booked a few groups with the tour operators. Our overseas team is working with major corporate houses in India.

Question: What is your take on dual pricing by airlines and fuel surcharges?

Answer: An airline cannot survive without the travel agents, but at the same time, we also want to do some direct selling. In the long run, we support them and they support us. As far as fuel surcharge is concerned, we are following the industry and are doing the same as other airlines. We are helpless in the face of the current fuel prices.