Cai Jianjiang: Air China’s president chairs Shenzhen Airline

Shenzhen Airline’s management level is reshuffled after a shake-up in its shareholding structure. On May 12, the company declared that former Air China’s president Cai Jianjiang will take the place of Fan Cheng to be the new chairman of Shenzhen Airlines.

Cai Jianjiang, 45, graduated from China Civil Airline Academy. Majored in the aviation control, he took the general manager of Shenzhen Airlines in 1999 and moved to Air China in 2001, taking various posts in Air China, like the head of Shanghai Branch, assistant to president and vice president. On July 2, 2007 he became the president of Air China.

Last November Li Zeyuan, who then controlled Shenzhen Airline was arrested due to economics perpetration. This March, Shenzhen Airline’s president Li Qun was removed from his post for the same reason.

Also in this March, Air China contributed 680 million yuan (USD 99.58 million), increasing its shares of Shenzhen Airline from 25% to 51%. Therefore Air China became the largest shareholder of Shenzhen Airline.

Air China’s board chairman Kong Dong said that Air China integrated Shenzhen Airline into its financial system after becoming Shenzhen Airline’s major shareholder. Presently Air China has eight teams working with Shenzhen Airline’s employees to study the marketing, airline network planning and so on. The results will be seen in June. On April 27, Air China inked a strategic cooperation agreement with Shenzhen government, in which Air China promised to develop Shenzhen Airline into a state-level company and keep it headquartered in Shenzhen.