When he grew into a teenager and still talked about pilot school, his parents and family did everything possible to discourage him.
They weren't successful.
In China, Sun said, only 1 out of every 100 applicants for Air Force pilot schools is accepted. Sun made the cut and hasn’t looked back.
Now he's president of HNA Group's Hainan Airlines, one of China's safest and largest airlines.
Despite his executive responsibilities, he continues to enjoy his lifelong passion for flying. If you're traveling on Hainan in or out of Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, look into the cockpit: Capt. Sun, a certified pilot, might be at the controls.
We met Sun in Seattle to discuss Hainan's growing business and links in the Pacific Northwest, biofuels, Sea-Tac Airport's new international arrivals facility, and his passion for Boeing's “revolutionary” Dreamliner.
You have a partnership and mileage reward sharing deal with Alaska Airlines, which flies your Chinese passengers to other U.S. destinations after Seattle visits. How is that going? It’s been very successful and the partnership is going well. One-third of our passengers are connecting on Alaska Airlines flights after landing in the U.S. every day. Hainan isn’t in any international airline alliance so local partners like Alaska are very important to our customers.
More Chinese customers are flying to Seattle and the 10 other U.S. destinations you serve than ever before. What’s behind the explosive growth? Long-haul trips used to be expensive. Now it’s quite reasonable. Social media in China has had a huge influence on the desire of people to travel. People see others traveling on social media and trips are discussed at dinners among families and friends. Now, a Chinese passport can also be easier to get. Chinese parents and students are traveling here for education, too. Our annual passenger volume to the U.S. has jumped from 110,000 a year to 630,000 people a year. Chinese foreign travel is just beginning, so there’s more room for growth.
Aviation biofuel is a growing issue for this region. You flew the first trans-Pacific biofuel flight for Hainan from Beijing to Chicago last fall. How did it go? The flight went very well. Biofuel is even better than regular aviation fuel because it’s refined to a better, even higher standard. We know it's better for the environment. But the issue is cost. It's quite high. Supply is another issue. There's not enough aviation biofuel being refined right now. We need fuel every day so refining capacity will have to increase if it's going to work. Hainan is a pioneer in green contributions and we want to do what’s right.
The global airline industry is facing a pilot shortage in the U.S. and overseas. How are you managing the crisis at Hainan? We have internationalized. We hired 400 foreign pilots. We are also training pilots very fast. We currently have 2,000 pilots and we’re now training 2,000 student pilots. We are doing that with the help of 23 flight simulators, including Boeing 787 and 737 machines and Airbus simulators for A330 and A320 jets, involving our sister airlines Tianjin and Beijing Capital airlines.
You attended the ceremony when Seattle-Tacoma International Airport started building its new International Arrivals Facility. Is that facility important for Hainan? Yes. Seattle was our first route to the U.S. Passenger traffic on the Seattle route accounts for one-quarter of total U.S. traffic. However, if our passengers are on their first trip to the U.S., they may be very surprised by the Seattle International Arrivals facility. They have the impression that the U.S. is modern, but they see an older facility, they compare it with the newly built airports in China. When Seattle finishes the new (and larger) terminal, Hainan could add more flights.
Is Hainan building community ties here? The company is contributing $4 million over five years to the Global Innovation Exchange (GIX) in Bellevue. It’s the only Chinese university with a U.S. campus. ... We’ve provided travel and fellowships for students.
Are you comfortable with parent company HNA’s finances amid questions about its liquidity? Of course. HNA has become an international company. More than half the staff of the business is outside of China now. Their working methods are now internationalized. (Note: After this interview, China CITIC Bank gave HNA Group a $3.2 billion credit facility to help with a “strategic transformation.” Trading of Hainan shares remains halted on the Shanghai Stock Exchange.)
You personally fly Hainan Boeing Dreamliners, including flights between China and Seattle. What do you think of the 787? Hainan has the biggest fleet of Dreamliners of any airline in China. It’s not a new generation aircraft — it’s a revolutionary aircraft. We used to have two stops to long-haul destinations. Now, we have point-to-point flights. We currently fly from Tier 1 cities in China to Tier 1 airports in the U.S. Our future plan calls for us to fly from Tier 2 airports in China to Tier 2 U.S. airports. We’ll use the revolutionary aircraft to launch an air revolution. Many old people in China feared flying because of the confusing airport connections and long flights. Now, with direct flights between major U.S. cities, they’re discovering it’s a wonderful world outside China.
JIANFENG 'JEFF' SUN
- Title: President, Hainan Airlines
- Age: 50
- Education: MBA from Tianjin University (near Beijing); graduated from China's Fifth Air Force Aviation College in Gansu province in Western China
- Career: Sun joined China's HNA Group as a pilot in 1996 and was named president of Hainan Airlines in 2015.
- Family: He and his wife, an aerospace engineer, have two children.
- Fun facts: Sun is certified to fly Boeing 787 Dreamliner and Airbus A330 passenger jets.
- Other passions: Hiking, tennis and swimming
- Aircraft: There are 211 jets In the Hainan Airlines fleet and more than 600 in HNA Group's fleet.
?Six tips for international business travel from Hainan President and Dreamliner pilot Jeff Sun
Hainan Airlines President Jianfeng "Jeff" Sun is also a Boeing Dreamliner pilot for the Chinese airline.
Traveling well when overseas for work is a fine art and passengers can do several things to make better experiences out of their international business trips, the president of Hainan Airlines says.
Jianfeng "Jeff" Sun has been the Chinese airline's president since 2015, but despite his executive duties remains an active pilot of Boeing 787 Dreamliners and Airbus jets.
- Good trip preparation is paramount. Do your homework about your destination, and especially check the weather forecast for your destination. Too often, Sun said, he sees passengers dressed inappropriately for local conditions when they step off airplanes.
- Learn how to sleep in a plane. Short naps will leave you amazingly refreshed. Try not to depend on sleep medicines if possible.
- Don't overwork during business travel. They'll be lots of time for work when you get there. Take the time to relax and watch a movie or two or read a book for pleasure.
- Always eat good nutritious food, not unhealthy snack foods.
- Do simple exercises and stretches inside the plane and exercise after flights where possible, but nothing too hard or strenuous.
- Sun recommends staying hydrated by applying skin lotions and wearing long-sleeve shirts in planes. Drink water, but don't over hydrate. Older airplanes have very low humidity, leaving passengers dry and dehydrated during long flights. But cabins in newer aircraft like Boeing Dreamliners are pressurized differently, resulting in higher humidity levels that boost passenger comfort. That makes nonstop water drinking less necessary to avoid jet lag.
?CEO replaces president in HK Airlines boardroom tussle
https://www.ch-aviation.com/portal/news/77969-ceo-replaces-president-in-hk-airlines-boardroom-tussle
10.05.2019 - 23:11 UTC
Hong Kong Airlines (HX, Hong Kong Int'l) has a new chief executive and head of finance, both joining from HNA Group which has a stake of around 29% stake in the carrier, while the company’s president has left the company, the South China Morning Post has reported.
Sun Jianfeng, previously president of HNA flagship business Hainan Airlines (HU, Haikou), is the new CEO. He was already a director of Hong Kong Airlines Holdings, the carrier’s holding company. A former pilot, he was executive vice-president of Hong Kong Airlines a decade ago, according to a resume seen by the newspaper.
The chief finance officer is Li Neng, the report says, who joins from a position as chief innovation officer at HNA Tourism Investment Group and who has had senior roles at TAP Air Portugal, Virgin Australia and Africa World Airlines.
CEO is a newly created role at Hong Kong Airlines. Wang Liya, who as president was effectively the carrier's chief executive, will step down into an advisory role, the airline has said.
The new arrivals come in the wake of a series of boardroom spats in recent months, together with an ongoing court case to determine who actually controls the company. As previously reported, one group of shareholders claimed in April to have appointed Zhong Guosong, a stakeholder and former director, as chairman. But the company’s website describes the chairman as Hou Wei.
On May 8, the South China Morning Post reported that the airline’s auditor, PwC, had quit, yet the airline maintains it asked the auditor to leave as part of a raft of cost-saving measures.
There are also growing concerns over Hong Kong Airlines' finances. Its shareholders were informed in April that it lost around HKD3 billion (USD382 million) in 2018 and that it would need to raise HKD2 billion to retain its operating license, Reuters reported at the time.
Cash-strapped HNA cut its stake in HK Airlines in 2017, together with other asset sales, and stakeholders at the airline have alleged the group has siphoned money from it, according to Reuters, a charge HNA denies.
About Hong Kong Airlines
| Type | Scheduled Carrier |
|---|---|
| Base | Hong Kong Int'l |
| Aircraft | 33 |
| Destinations | 15 |
| Routes | 14 |
| Daily Flights | 12 |
Following a mention in Hong Kong's High Court on Thursday, October 13, when Justice Jonathan Harris approved the holding of a Hong Kong Airlines (HX, Hong Kong Int'l) creditor's meeting to vote on a restructuring plan, the airline has offered secured creditors an alternative to the proposed upfront cash payment put forward in a September 27 practice statement letter.
Per an October 13 supplemental practice statement letter viewed by ch-aviation, Hong Kong Airlines is now offering creditors a larger upfront cash payment. Under the original proposal, secured creditors would receive a pro-rata share of USD17,075,000, estimated to be around 2.5% of the total owed to secured creditors.
Under the revised proposal, creditors are offered an upfront cash payment of USD45,111,505, representing around 5% of the amount owed and accrued but unpaid distributions. While the airline says the original offer is fair, the revised offer is made to maximise the chances of creditors approving the restructuring plan.
Lawyers for the airline told Justice Harris that they need letters of support from 75% of creditors to...
