Return to 2000: Captain of the Great Powers

When purchasing aircraft, especially this type of large passenger aircraft, if the quantity is relatively large, installment payment is still a relatively common choice.However, to buy a single aircraft, you have to pay in installments, and pay it in ten years. This precedent has never been done by any aircraft manufacturer, let alone Boeing, which has an extremely strong seller's market.

You know, the lifespan of a 737 in passenger transport is more than ten years.When the model is old enough, it is usually sold to cargo airlines.

In this way, Xu Cang basically planned to use almost the entire passenger life of the aircraft to repay the purchase price, which is really outrageous.

"What about the interest rate?" Li Rongcheng asked carefully.

"What's the interest rate? What's the relationship between us? Talking about interest rate hurts feelings." Xu Cang put his arms around Li Rongcheng's shoulders at this time. If he didn't know the inside story, he would think that the two were brothers.Xu Cang raised a finger: "Just one, one!"

Li Rongcheng's face turned blue and purple for a while.Indeed, Xu Cang gave money, but what is the difference between this and prostitution?Pay it off in ten years, and there is still no interest, how can Xu Cang have the face to say such a thing?
But Xu Cang was too important to Boeing at least so far, and Li Rongcheng didn't dare to reject him directly.After thinking about it, Li Rongcheng spread his five fingers: "Payment in ten years is too exaggerated. Just one plane, you are a bit too much. Five years, one installment per year, five installments, this is my bottom line."

Who knew that Xu Cang didn't even think about it, and grabbed Li Rongcheng's hand: "Deal, deal, hahaha! When will the contract be signed, and when will the plane come in?"

Li Rongcheng pulled out his hand in disgust: "Why do I feel that you said the ten-year split was intentional?"

A thinker once said that human nature always likes to reconcile and compromise.For example, if you say that the room is too dark and you need to open a window here, everyone will definitely not allow it.But if you say you're going to take the roof off, they're willing to open the windows.

"Where did I do it on purpose? I really don't have any money." Xu Cang said with a playful smile, "There is one more thing, if possible, please help."

Li Rongcheng pointed at Xu Cang: "You kid, don't go too far, you're making progress."

"It's not too much to ask."

Li Rongcheng didn't quite believe it: "Tell me?"

"Look at my poor place, I know that the way of low-cost airlines is definitely going to follow. But if we talk about the originator of the low-cost airline model, Southwest America is the first, so I hope you can introduce it, let us send someone to go American Southwest Research Survey."

Although Xu Cang knew some operating concepts of low-cost airlines through the knowledge of later generations, after all, Xu Cang was not a business manager, and Xu Cang actually still didn't understand many details.

Since there are some things that are not fully understood, it is natural to make up for it, and Xu Cang does not plan to stay at home and study blindly, but to learn from others.

The low-cost airline model is still relatively rare in this era, but it is definitely not the first one created by Xu Cang.If you want to say that the patriarch of low-cost airlines is Southwest Airlines.

Relying on the model of low-cost airlines, it has created a myth of 33 consecutive years of profitability.In the spirit of learning from the best, Xu Cang definitely hopes to go to the Southwest of the United States to learn from it. …

However, although corporate communication is considered a fairly normal business activity.But Xu Cang is now an ant-sized airline company in China, why does Meixinan take care of him, so Li Rongcheng has to help build a bridge.

After all, Li Rongcheng is a high-level executive at Boeing. Let me help you introduce it. It is not too much to ask for a research opportunity.

"Enterprise research, it scared me to death." Li Rongcheng was relieved when he heard Xu Cang's words. Who are you going to send there? Your people can go to investigate, but they don’t necessarily teach everything, how much they can learn depends on their understanding.”

This type of corporate research must send a smart enough person there, otherwise, it will be purely a public trip, and nothing will be learned.

"The candidate." Xu Cang raised his head and pointed to the gate of the yard: "It's her."

"Who?" Li Rongcheng turned his head and glanced at the gate of the courtyard, just in time to see Shi Qi and his daughter who came in with big bags and small bags.

As soon as Shi Lingling entered the yard, he found that Xu Cang seemed to be pointing at himself, and asked with some doubts: "Xu Cang, are you pointing at me?"

"That's right, I have a very good thing for you." Xu Cang stood up, walked to the gate of the courtyard, and helped Shi Qi and Shi Lingling carry things.

Shi Lingling didn't see the outside, and handed all the luggage in his hand to Xu Cang, glanced at Li Rongcheng who was still sitting, and asked, "What's so great?"

"Go to the United States to do a research." Xu Cang turned to Li Rongcheng and said, "I have an introducer. Go to the Southwest of the United States, will it work?"

Shi Lingling pointed to himself: "Me? The research is no problem. Anyway, I have been there many times before, but I am going to be in charge of the marketing department. I went to do the research. Don't I need me here?"

"There's only one plane and one route now, do you need the marketing department?" Xu Cang said with a smile, "If you want to stay here, you can also be an elite commander here."

"Commander Guang Guanggan? What do you mean, I am the only one in the marketing department now?" Shi Lingling looked at Xu Cang in disbelief, and then looked around, suddenly furious: "I felt something was wrong when I first came in. That's it. The yard is like a play house, it looks a bit like an airline company. Now you let me come here, but you don’t send me someone, are you playing with me?"

Shi Qi patted Shi Lingling on the head: "Lingling, don't worry, Xu Cang must have arrangements."

"There are definitely no people now, but we are recruiting, and I think there will be soon." Xu Cang said sincerely: "No one in China has ever taken the low-cost and cheap route. I have some general ideas, which can be implemented in specific ways." level, then there is no confidence, so I need you to take a trip to the Southwest of the United States."

At present, Qin Xin and Shi Lingling's English is the best in the base, but Qin Xin needs to sit in the base, so he must not leave.Moreover, Shi Lingling had a lot of investigation and research experience when she was in the bureau, and she was very familiar with the process, so it was definitely the most suitable for her to go.

"Anyway, I'm investigating the model of low-cost airlines, so instead of going to the Southwest of the United States, Is it feasible to go to EasyJet in the UK?" Shi Lingling is still picking and choosing: "EasyJet has been established for five years, and it is also a low-cost operating concept. Are you doing well too?”…

Xu Cang saw through Shi Lingling's small thoughts at a glance: "I don't want to go to the United States, but I want to go to the UK, right? Is it really a government-funded trip? Our base is not even an airline company, and there are eleven out of ten people who go out." I don’t know, why does Yijie ask us to do research? We have a way in the Southwest of the United States, do you have a way in Britain’s Yijie? If you have, I don’t care anyway.”

Shi Lingling murmured: "So you know that too."

Originally, Shi Lingling thought that Xu Cang was planning some earth-shattering event, but in the end, he went to this ravine to set up a small workshop.It's not that Shi Lingling looked down on Xu Cang's hard work, it's just that there was still a big gap with her expectations, and she was a little disappointed.

However, if this small sapling can be cultivated into a towering tree, that would be something to be proud of.

"That is an executive from Boeing, who is easy to talk to in the US. I have nothing to do with EasyJet in the UK anyway. You have to go and figure out your own way."

Shi Lingling snorted: "Forget it, go to the Southwest of the United States and go to the Southwest of the United States. If I had known, I would not be in a hurry, and I would go directly from Hanjing."

If you go to the United States, you still have to fly from Hanjing in seven or eight out of ten.Then Shi Lingling was tossing back and forth.

"This time, I will come here to meet my future colleagues." Xu Cang smiled and said to Shi Qi: "Teacher, I thought you would be delayed for a day or two to go through the formalities."

Shi Qi said with a smile: "It's a secondment, the process is much faster."

Now that Shi Qi has transferred to the plane, he is still working at Guoda Airlines, and he came to Xu Cang's side under the name of secondment.The main reason is that the Erhai Base has not yet become independent, and Shi Qi didn't want to transfer to Blue Sky Airlines, so he simply stayed with National University Airlines.

When Xu Cang establishes an independent airline company, Shi Qi will transfer the working relationship.Since National Airline has some shares in Blue Sky Airlines, the process of internal transfer is relatively simple, and Shi Qi can come so quickly.

"Well, teacher, let's find a room to put our luggage down first, and then go to eat."

With that said, Xu Cang led Shi Qi to go to the dormitory first.

However, Shi Qi grabbed Xu Cang, took out a photo from his pocket and handed it to Xu Cang: "Wu Taiming asked me to give it to you."

Xu Cang took a look and saw a man and a woman in the photo. The man was naturally Wu Taiming, while the woman was a handsome girl with a ponytail.

This girl is only half a head shorter than Wu Taiming, with a confident smile on her face, but Wu Taiming next to her looks a bit reserved.

"Wu Taiming asked me to thank you." Shi Qi leaned over and said, "He said there are still some things to do in Qizhou, and he will come to you when things are settled."

Xu Cang carefully distinguished the appearance of the girl in the photo, and she was very similar to Wu Taiming's wife in later generations. It seemed that Wu Taiming had indeed found his true destiny through his own guidance.

Although he didn't bring Wu Taiming over because of some things when he was in Shandong Airlines, seeing that his brother finally found his other half, Xu Cang was also happy for him.

"Well, no hurry, no hurry."

Xu Cang laughed out loud, feeling very happy.A plane was bought from Boeing at a half-sale and half-gift, and teacher Shi Qi came here again, and Wu Taiming also solved a lifelong event. …

"Rongcheng, don't leave today, eat here tonight."

It was rare for Li Rongcheng to see Xu Cang so happy, or he was infected by the cheerful atmosphere here, Li Rongcheng didn't refuse, but nodded with a smile: "Then I'll have a good time."

After choosing houses for Shi Qi's father and daughter, Xu Cang took Shi Qi and Shi Lingling for a walk around the area and explained the situation of the base.Shi Qi didn't care, he was from the army and had never experienced any hardships. On the contrary, he still felt that the current base's interpersonal relationship was simple and he felt quite comfortable.When Shi Lingling heard that even daily necessities could only be purchased on a regular basis, she immediately lost face.However, she also complained a few words and didn't say much.

Since Xu Cang planned to drink tonight, he planned not to fly tomorrow, and the flight crew for tomorrow's flight did not come down. After the last call, although the atmosphere of the dinner was lively, the number of people was actually not many.

Xu Cang, Qin Xin, Shi Qi's father and daughter, Li Rongcheng, and several ground personnel.

Qin Xin was still sitting together at the beginning, but as the men at the table were still drinking and chatting, the things discussed became more and more grand. As for the man, your voice started to get louder as you drink one cup at a time.

"I said Xu Cang, I didn't mean to belittle you. With your talent, you're really inferior, a great inferior." Maybe he was a little drunk, but Li Rongcheng was a little tongue-tied when he spoke: "Why do you Why don’t you go to the United States with me? Go there, and I will at least guarantee that you can live the life of an upper-class person, what’s wrong with that?”

Shi Qi's capacity for alcohol is very good, when Xu Cang and Li Rongcheng began to get drunk, Shi Qi was still sipping his wine methodically, without any appearance of confusion at all.

It's just that when he heard Li Rongcheng said that he would bring Xu Cang to the United States, Shi Qi first showed a trace of surprise on his face, then put down his wine glass with a serious expression on his face.

"Go to the United States? Seriously, if I didn't know that you didn't have any malicious intentions, I would have wanted to scold you at that time." Xu Cang began to speak without any scruples.

It's just that in this era, the word Shabi has not been widely spread. Li Rongcheng scratched his head: "What does Shabi mean? Why do I feel that it is not a good word?"

"You don't care if it's a good word, anyway, you know that I was born in this country, and I will stay in this country for the rest of my life. Yes, she is not as good as the United States now, so I will build her. One day, the people here People don't yearn for foreign countries." When Xu Cang was excited, he accidentally bit his tongue, and the pain made him almost cry.

Shi Qi looked at Xu Cang whose eyelids were beginning to droop, and was suddenly very glad that he chose to follow Xu Cang.

I don't know why, but it seems to have poked Li Rongcheng's heart, his eyes turned red all of a sudden, and he said vaguely: "If only my father had the same thoughts as you!"

Xu Cang patted the table: "Then you come back. I can tell that you are different from your brother. You have the same blood as us, why can't you come back?"

"My dad immigrated to the United States and became a U.S. citizen. I was born with U.S. citizenship. I don't care about this nationality, but I can't go back. It is too difficult to obtain Chinese citizenship."…

Speaking of this, Li Rongcheng almost burst into tears.

It is very simple to give up nationality, but it is very difficult to turn back.It is said that it is difficult to obtain American citizenship, but in fact it is even more difficult to obtain Chinese nationality.

China is not a country of immigrants, so the requirements for foreigners to obtain Chinese nationality are quite strict.Although Li Rongcheng is already a successful person in business, he can at most obtain a permanent residence, and there is still a lot of difference to naturalization.

The inability to return to Chinese nationality has almost become a thorn in Li Rongcheng's heart.

Why is Li Rongcheng so at odds with his half-brother Li Rongxian?Because Li Rongxian has already died, he doesn't agree with the half of the blood in his body at all.But Li Rongcheng returned his heart to the country, so he couldn't understand Li Rongxian's words and deeds belittling the country.

When it comes to naturalization, Xu Cang can only pat Li Rongcheng, which is indeed a very difficult hurdle to cross.

Xu Cang laughed dryly, and for some reason the atmosphere turned to this, so he wanted to change the topic, but he glanced at the door from the corner of his eye, and suddenly his whole body trembled, he was already half awake from the wine, and he stood up suddenly : "Director Hu."

"Huh?" Li Rongcheng, a half-drunk guy, heard the movement and looked at the door, and happened to see Hu Ming.He didn't know Hu Ming, he just saw Xu Cang stand up, he also stood up in a daze, and nodded to Hu Ming.

Hu Ming who came alone saw Xu Cang blushing, then looked at the messy plates and wine glasses on the small table, and said with a smile: "Little brother, I didn't bother you."

"No, no, how is it possible!" Xu Cang quickly invited Hu Ming in, and pulled a small stool for Hu Ming to sit down: "Director Hu, it's a bit shabby here, don't mind."

Hu Ming looked around: "I heard that you think it's strange that you use this place as a base. Is it too simple to use this place as a base? I didn't expect you to actually live here."

"The land for the new base has been approved, but it hasn't had time to build it yet, so we can only deal with it here, and we will definitely move it later." Xu Cang subconsciously prepared to pour wine for Hu Ming, but the bottle was lifted into the air I put it down and poured tea instead.

Hu Ming saw Xu Cang's small movements, and laughed: "Little brother, don't be so cautious, this is a private family gathering, there are not so many rules."

Hearing what Hu Ming said, Xu Cang immediately became happy, poured out the tea and poured Hu Mingman a glass of wine.

Hu Ming picked up the wine glass, took a sip, and then looked at the label on the bottle, revealing a hint of reminiscence: "Yanghe Daqu, I haven't had wine from my hometown for a long time."

Strictly speaking, Yanghe Daqu is not the wine of Hu Ming's hometown.Although they are in the same province, the origin of Yanghe Daqu and Weiyang City are still different in terms of the division of prefecture-level cities, even though the two are bordering.

"I didn't expect there to be wine from my hometown." Xu Cang smiled and moved the side dishes in front of Hu Ming, and asked, "Director Hu, we have something to do these two days. We were supposed to visit you, I didn't expect to trouble you to come here."

Hu Ming waved his hand: "It's all the same, you are busy, so I'll come over."

"However, Director Hu, you are from Weiyang, why did you transfer to the southwest area all of a sudden, and the distance is too far away." Xu Cang said strangely. …

Hu Ming smiled and said: "You are also from Weiyang, don't you know that Weiyang is a one-on-one assistance city in Erhai?"

Xu Cang was stunned: "There is such a relationship, I really don't know."

"It's normal if you don't know. If I hadn't been assigned here, I wouldn't have known." Hu Ming took another sip of wine: "I just came here for a walk, and there is a long way to go."

Shi Qi and Li Rongcheng who were standing next to him could tell that this middle-aged man was actually a local official. They originally wanted to add a few words, but now they really had to shut up.

After the opening reminiscence talk, we have to talk about the serious business later. Anyway, Hu Ming is here, so let’s not talk for nothing.

Xu Cang tried his best to keep himself awake, and asked softly, "Director Hu, our attendance rate from Yangcheng to Erhai Lake these two days is very high, but I don't know when your subsidy policy will be implemented."

When Hu Ming heard Xu Cang mention this, he smiled knowingly, and instead of answering immediately, he glanced at Shi Qi, Li Rongcheng and others.

Xu Cang immediately understood and helped to introduce: "This is teacher Shi Qi, this is Li Rongcheng, a Boeing executive, and the ground administrator of our base."

"Boeing executives didn't realize that they are young and promising." Hu Ming praised.

Li Rongcheng scratched his head embarrassingly: "I'm overwhelmed, I'm overwhelmed."

Now that the identity of the person at the table has been confirmed, Hu Ming has no scruples.In fact, there was nothing to be scruples about, it didn't involve confidential content, it was just Hu Ming's habit.

"The fuel subsidy policy can be implemented within a week. This is the limit I can strive for now. The financial surplus here is not much, and it is naturally tied up in spending. But wait for you to bring more passengers and prove yourself. value, then there are still follow-up preferential policies." Hu Ming thought for a while: "From the current fuel subsidy for some flights to the fuel subsidy for all subsequent flights, then to the additional landing subsidy for some flights, and finally to all airlines. Landing subsidy. The road has to be taken step by step, and the meal has to be eaten bite by bite. I hope you can understand."

How can Xu Cang ask for more, thank you so much, this subsidy policy is really a timely help in the initial stage.

"However, Director Hu. We are pulling people here, so you have to improve the supporting facilities. Among other things, the frequency of the airport bus needs to be increased, and every two hours is too little."

Although Xu Cang was enthusiastic, and it was not impossible to let the crew car take part in the airport bus once in a while, but Xu Cang couldn't hold back when he was always asked to do this.

Speaking of this, Hu Ming blushed in a rare way: "Now the time when your flight lands is the time when the airport has the highest flow of people. What I mean is to add a special flight to the landing time of your flight. This way the public expenditure will not increase a lot. , and can basically guarantee transportation needs.”

"This." Although Xu Cang still felt a little petty, seeing Hu Ming wishing he could split a coin into two parts, he couldn't ask for more.

Now that Director Hu had already opened his mouth to set the time for the implementation of the policy, Xu Cang took advantage of the strength of the wine and immediately took a picture of Li Rongcheng, who was eating sullenly, "How soon can you hand over the plane."...

"Ah, little brother, are you going to buy an airplane?" Hu Ming just swallowed a piece of braised pork, and when he heard Xu Cang and Li Rongcheng mention the delivery of the airplane, even Hu Ming felt very excited.

Xu Cang smiled and said, "That's right, Mr. Li is here, the quality is good and the price is cheap."

Mentioning this, Li Rongcheng's face darkened again: "It will probably take three years."

"Three or three years!?" Xu Cang, who was still a little drunk, trembled, and beads of sweat suddenly appeared on his forehead, and all the remaining alcohol evaporated: "Three years, you are kidding me. For three years, the day lily was cold."

"What do you mean by day lily? Do you think it's too long to wait?" Li Rongcheng waved his hand: "It usually takes three to five years from the time the order is placed to the delivery of the plane. I've already taken the minimum value for you. What else do you want?"

"Three to five years, is the aircraft delivery time so long?" Hu Ming also felt that the door to a new world had been opened. He didn't know much about civil aviation, so it was relatively new.

Li Rongcheng told the truth: "Three to five years is considered a normal time, if there are some unexpected reasons, more than five years is normal."

"No, three years is too long, three months at most." Xu Cang said.

"Three months!? Even if I start work for you right now, I won't be able to build a plane for you in three months."

Xu Cang: "Then your current production capacity has been fully reserved?"

"Otherwise, what do you think?" Li Rongcheng said bluntly: "If you are in such a hurry, I advise you to find an aircraft leasing company."

"Aircraft leasing companies are too expensive."

Xu Cang's insane words made Li Rongcheng almost depressed: "As a co-author, you think the delivery time is too long, and you think the aircraft lease is too expensive. You will take advantage of everything."

Xu Cang pushed Li Rongcheng with his elbow: "Is there really no other way?"

"No..." Li Rongcheng almost blurted out the words "no way", but suddenly a thought flashed in his mind, he clicked his lips, and asked Xu Cang: "Xu Cang, if it is 737-900, would you like Do not?"

“737-900？737有这个型号吗？”旁边的史颀听到李荣成这么说，顿时起了兴趣。737家族里从最原始的737-100到现在的737-800，可从未听说还有737-900的。

Li Rongcheng hummed: "Yes, it has just been approved by FAA this year, and it is the latest model of 737ng."

Xu Cang pondered for a moment: "Is it the one with a passenger capacity of 215 at the first level of the cabin?"

Li Rongcheng was a little surprised: "You still know! That's right, if all of them are converted to economy class, the 900 model can seat 215 people. Three years ago, Alaska Airlines ordered ten, but today they are approaching delivery. It’s time to repent and return two planes. If you can accept it, I can give you one plane. In this way, the delivery can be completed in less than three months.”

"But the 900 is 800 meters longer than the 2.6 model. Is the runway at Erhai Airport enough now?" Xu Cang was caught in a dilemma.

Now the runway length of Erhai Airport is 600 meters, and the 737-800 is already at the limit. If it is replaced by a larger 737-900, the runway length of Erhai Airport will be a bit stretched.

When Xu Cang was in a dilemma, Hu Ming who was next to him suddenly asked, "Little brother, is the runway at Erhai Airport not long enough?"

"Director Hu, the 900 model is relatively large, and the runway at our Erhai Airport is not enough, which is troublesome."…

"That's it." Hu Ming nodded half-understanding: "Then if the runway is extended, how much is enough?"

"Ah?" Xu Cang was stunned, and then overjoyed: "400 meters, just extend it by 400 meters. If it can be extended by 400 meters, then I don't want 737-900. Is there still 737-900x?"

Li Rongcheng almost spit out the tea he was drinking: "How do you know about 737-900x?"

The 737-900x, also known as the 737-900er, is an extended version of the 900 model and the largest model in the 737 series.However, this model is so new that many people should not know about it.

"You don't care if I know that!" Xu Cang glared at Li Rongcheng, then turned to look at Hu Ming: "Director Hu, is it feasible to extend the runway?"

"I'll discuss this when I go back. But even if it's feasible, it will probably take about half a year to get it done. Xu Cang, can you wait?"

Xu Cang was still thinking, but Li Rongcheng had already interjected: "No, I can only keep you for three months at most. After three months, the plane will have to be disposed of again. I can't keep the plane for you alone." Keep it, it will be too great a loss for us."

"Three months? This... I'm a little anxious." Hu Ming also showed embarrassment.How did he feel that it was impossible to extend the runway by 400 meters in three months?
In fact, even Xu Cang himself felt that it would not be possible to finish it in three months.If it is in a plain area, there may be some opportunities for people and materials to come and go easily, but in Erhai Airport, a place with inconvenient transportation, no matter how you look at it, it is impossible.

Seeing Xu Cang's appearance, Li Rongcheng had to apologize a little: "Xu Cang, this is my limit, three months cannot be extended."

"I know, but." Xu Cang sighed, thinking of vetoing this plan.

But at this juncture, a heroic voice came from outside the door: "It's just a 400-meter runway, three months is enough!"