Last year, CITIC Pacific connived in a successful attempt by the Chinese government to bully the Swire group into decreasing its stake in its main money spinner, the Cathay Pacific airline.
Two hundred years later, Christopher Columbus annotated his copy of the Venetian adventurer's "Travels" with the words "Mercacciones innumeras" ("an incalculable amount of trade") before setting out for mythical Cathay.
In 1996 it sold 25% of Cathay Pacific, Hong Kong's "flag-carrier" airline to CITIC, a Chinese investment firm, and other mainland investors.Jardine's fall into disfavour followed its decision in 1984 to shift its legal domicile to Bermuda, and then, a decade later, to delist its shares from the Hong Kong market.
Swire and CITIC both reduced their holdings in Cathay and Air China bought 17.5% of it.
But immediately after the April 29th air raid, Cathay Pacific suspended its flights (having only recently restored them following March's attack), while Singapore Airlines switched its night flights to the daytime.
At the Hong Kong end, Hong Kong Airlines serves more destinations in mainland China than Cathay Pacific, but with just one daily flight between London and Hong Kong, passengers may not be in a position to make the most of these connections.
Yet though fares for flights two months later are substantially cheaper with Cathay, at under £4,500, the Club Premier price remains the same.Will this new service go the way of the business-class-only operators whose demises punctuated the months around the start of the recent financial crisis MAXjet, Eos and Silverjet?
Cathay Pacific's shares fell after a leaked memo suggested that it would ground its fleet next month if the SARS epidemic caused business to deteriorate.See article: SARS infects global businessPilots at American Airlines agreed on a wage cut of $660m a year; mechanics agreed to forego $300m.
SAS also had an operating loss last year, and even fast-recovering Iberia saw its profits slide.In Asia carriers such as Cathay Pacific, Singapore Airlines and Thai Airways are all bouncing back rapidly from the SARS epidemic which halved traffic last spring.
AS A recent advertising campaign highlighted, Cathay Pacific is renowned for its attractive and attentive flight staff.
The hope is that taking to the air with launch customers such as Singapore Airlines will lead to further orders from other carriers, such as Cathay Pacific and British Airways, which fly busy long-haul routes.
