For Beijing, the impact of vanishing loads is intensified by decisions it took seven years ago, when it tried to fashion three national champions from an industry-wide restructuring. But the mergers, based on three regional airlines and their respective hubs in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou, were done on geo-political rather than commercial grounds. The trio inherited incompatible fleets and even more incompatible management. China Eastern, the weakest of the three, lost money even when volumes were growing at up to 20 per cent a year.
對北京來說，7年前做出的決定加劇了當(dāng)前航空運量下滑的影響——當(dāng)時，北京試圖通過一次全行業(yè)結(jié)構(gòu)重組來打造3家全國頂尖航空公司。但那次以3家航空公司及其各自在北京、上海和廣州的樞紐為基礎(chǔ)的合并，是出于地緣政治而非商業(yè)方面的考慮。這3家公司所繼承的機群互不兼容，其管理系統(tǒng)的兼容性甚至更差。3家公司中實力最弱的中國東航(China Eastern)，即使在年運量增幅高達(dá)20%之時也依然出現(xiàn)虧損。