Hainan Airlines Holding cancels group transfer of 9 aircraft

US designates COMAC, Air China's parent as military users

The United States Department of Defence (DOD) has added COMAC (Shanghai Pudong), Grand China Air (CN, Haikou), and China National Aviation Holding to its list of Chinese firms sanctioned under the National Defense Authorization Act for their alleged close ties to China's military and the Communist party.

"The Department is determined to highlight and counter the People’s Republic of China’s (PRC) Military-Civil Fusion development strategy, which supports the modernization goals of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) by ensuring its access to advanced technologies and expertise acquired and developed by even those PRC companies, universities, and research programs that appear to be civilian entities," the administration said in a statement.

The DOD sanctioned China's state-owned aerospace conglomerate AVIC in its initial tranche in June 2020.

While the National Defense Authorization Act does not directly prescribe consequences for the listed companies, in 2020, President Donald Trump issued an executive order banning any US investment in any of the sanctioned companies.

The DOD list is separate from the Military End-User (MEU) designation...

China's Sichuan Airlines Group disposes of a 34% stake

China's Hainan Airlines shores up cash pile

Hainan Airlines (HU, Haikou) has diverted funds raised to acquire aircraft in 2016 to instead "replenish the working capital" of the airline, it detailed in a Shanghai Stock Exchange filing on December 16.

The carrier, part of cash-strapped HNA Group, raised CNY16.55 billion yuan (USD2.53 billion) in August 2016 through a private issue on the Shanghai exchange of more than 4.62 billion A-shares. Subtracting expenses and fees, the actual net amount of funds raised was CNY16.4 billion (USD2.51 billion).

Exactly CNY11 billion (USD1.68 billion) of these funds was put towards the purchase of 37 aircraft, whose total cost was CNY43.1 billion (USD6.6 billion), while the rest was used for the acquisition of a 48.21% stake in Tianjin Airlines (GS, Tianjin). Hainan Airlines formally completed the acquisition of this stake in February 2017.

However, as of December 15, 2020, CNY1.55 billion (USD237 million) remained unused from the aircraft purchases, including interest and financial income. This sum will now be permanently allocated to Hainan Airlines' working capital.

Specifically, the funds will be...

Court labels HNA Group “discredited”, bans chief from travel

A court in China has officially designated heavily indebted Haikou-based conglomerate HNA Group as “discredited”, or laolai, a derogatory term for people or companies that fail to pay back money, the People's Daily newspaper of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China reported.

The Beilin District People's Court of Xi'an municipality in China's central Shaanxi Province also barred the group's chairman and legal representative Chen Feng from travel by air and high-speed train, taking holidays, and staying at star-rated hotels as part of an order to restrict his personal consumption.

The court's ruling was in retaliation for the group failing to pay CNY37,000 yuan (USD5,500) on time.

Chen has also been banned from buying real estate and high-premium insurance, from spending at nightclubs and golf clubs, and from allowing his children to attend private schools, the court papers from September 15 showed.

Such court-ordered bans in China do not have fixed time periods and there have been cases where they have been lifted after the defendants paid, Reuters reported.

The sum in...