By Lu Haoting (China Daily)
Updated: 2008-06-13 18:16

Closer Ties

It is not surprising China's flourishing air travel market could serve as an important engine for British Airways. In fact the country has also become a financing source for the airline to expand its fleet.

British Airways last October completed $1.7 billion debt financing for its new aircraft delivered over the next five years, including the Boeing 787 Dreamliner and the Airbus 380 Superjumbo. Two leading Chinese banks - Bank of China, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China - and banks from Japan and Europe will provide the financing.

"The Chinese banks are in a very strong position and gave us a very good offer. We believe China will also play an important role in the finance world in the near future," Thorley says, without disclosing the amount of funding provided by the Chinese banks.

British Airways is also involved in environmental projects in China through its carbon offsetting programs.

The airline unveiled a new carbon offset plan at the beginning of this year. The program uses the United Nations certified emissions reduction to help finance clean energy projects in developing countries, including Brazil and China.

Customers can buy their offset on British Airways' website when they book their flights. The offset cost for a London-Paris return is about 1.50 pounds and for London-New York about 16 pounds.

The money will support a wind farm in the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region and a hydroelectric power plant in Gansu Province.

"British Airways will be more and more involved with China, not just in the aviation industry. We will grow with the Chinese economy," Thorley says.

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