THE Civil Aviation Department (CAD) is to hire an inspector to monitor China National Aviation Corp's (CNAC) future operations in another sign the state-owned company's new airline will soon get off the ground.
The department placed an advertisement in the latest issue of industry magazine Flight International calling for a flight operations inspector with at least 12 years in the industry and experience on an aircraft type only CNAC's airline will be flying.
The job, which pays up to $1.7 million a year, including housing and flight allowances, is at a senior operations level and duties include 'the monitoring of the operating standards of the holders of Air Operators' Certificates', known as AOCs.
The state-owned CNAC (Hong Kong), a subsidiary of Beijing-based CNAC controlled by the regulatory Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC), last year applied for an AOC in a bid to challenge Cathay Pacific Airways and sister airline Hong Kong Dragon Airlines (Dragonair).
An AOC is a technical document certifying the operator is deemed competent from a safety standpoint, and it is the first step in setting up a locally based airline.
Sources close to CNAC said the company hoped to get China Hongkong Airlines off the ground by April 1 with charter flights to several mainland cities. Its AOC is expected to be approved by the end of next month.
With a fourth airline soon to be operating flights from Hong Kong - the third is an all-cargo airline called Air Hong Kong that is 75 per cent owned by Cathay - the CAD will need to add staff to handle the increased workload.
