Return to 2000: Captain of the Great Powers

Victorville Aircraft Graveyard tarmac.

Qin Xin, who had signed a contract with Lance Temir from New York, took a general-purpose twin-engine propeller plane to Victorville, and she was accompanied by seven maintenance personnel.

After getting off the plane, Qin Xin put on a pair of sunglasses, covering her whole body tightly, without any skin exposed.

Although Qin Xin was very professional and didn't care much about some clothing or maintenance, the wind from Victorville was like cutting a knife, and there was a little sand and gravel caught in the wind, which hurt the skin.

In addition, the sun here is also very poisonous. After all, Qin Xin is a woman, so she still needs some sun protection measures.

In comparison, all the accompanying maintenance staff wore a hood and ice sleeves, and the rest had no sun protection measures.

These are all old maintenance personnel, delivering the plane at minus ten degrees, going around the plane for inspection at forty degrees, and after the flight at three or four in the middle of the night, what scenes have you never seen?

Even the ice sleeves were carefully prepared by Qin Xin for them, otherwise these people would just wear a hat and settle down.

In fact, Victorville is already a semi-desert according to its geographical characteristics. It is divided by precipitation, and it is extremely arid. Sometimes, there is not a single drop of rain in a year.

However, it is precisely because of the dry climate all year round that the aging of the aircraft is much slower, which is a good place to save the aircraft.

After getting off the plane, looking around, there are densely packed planes of all kinds lying quietly, and there are even many military planes among them.

In addition to fixed-wing aircraft, there are also a small number of helicopters and rotorcraft inside.In the most corner area, there are many small planes, most of which are twin-engine business jets.

Not all of these planes are scrapped, quite a few of them are here waiting for their buyers.

Some airlines want to decommission certain aircraft, but as long as the aircraft has not exceeded the maximum service age, it is still valuable, and it is impossible to sell it directly as scrap iron, which is too wasteful.

Generally speaking, older aircraft are sold to cargo airlines, which are then converted into cargo aircraft.

If the age of the aircraft is not too old, it can be resold to other passenger airlines and continue to be used as a passenger aircraft.

However, in many cases, the transition between retiring an aircraft and finding a new buyer will not be seamless.During this period, the aircraft will be sealed.

If you park at a domestic airport for a long time, not to mention the accumulation of parking fees will be quite a lot.The most important thing is that most of the domestic airports still have four distinct seasons, and the wind and rain can't stand the plane.

Therefore, some airlines will temporarily fly their planes to Victorville for storage, where the parking fee is very low, the climate is stable, and the aging of the planes is relatively slow.

This is basically the process of flying the plane away from Victorville after finding a new buyer.

Qin Xin is from a coastal water town, so she is not used to the extremely dry climate of the desert.As soon as I got off the plane, I felt my throat was burning, which was very uncomfortable.

However, she is not a hypocritical person. Although she felt uncomfortable, she didn't say anything.

Victorville had received the news earlier, and specially arranged for a Chinese to come and receive him.

The man was tall and thin, with prominent cheekbones, and his complexion was as waxy yellow as his surroundings.In Qin Xin's perception, this should be an unhealthy complexion, but the receptionist was full of energy, and he didn't stop talking as soon as he greeted Qin Xin.

The accent of this Chinese is still very characteristic, it should be the dialect of southern Fujian.

Even though the distance between Minnan and Qin Xin's hometown is not too far, the dialect is not a little bit different.The receptionist grumbled a lot, and Qin Xin could understand two or three sentences out of ten.

The receptionist could only speak Hokkien and not Mandarin, Qin Xin's blood pressure went up with anger.

It's better to find someone who speaks more formal English. Qin Xin's English is not bad. How can communication be as difficult as it is now?
Fortunately, there was a Hokkien in the same maintenance team, and after discussing with the receptionist for a long time, they finally found Qin Xin.

The maintenance pointed to an apron in the distance: "The planes of Qatar Airways are all over there, and the seat numbers are A139, A143, A166..."

The maintenance staff has a good memory, not only remembering the flight numbers clearly, but also pointing out the specific flight locations one by one.

This engineer is the oldest among them, almost fifty, and looks older, mainly because the maintenance work is really hard, and he ages faster.

"President Qin, I'll take people to check one by one in a while. There are many projects and a heavy workload. You have to hurry up, or you will be finished today." He squinted his eyes: "Boss Qin, it's very sunny here. After work starts, you can find a place to rest and I'll just watch."

Qin Xin nodded: "Well, I will trouble you. You count the time and tell me two hours in advance that we need to apply for the time to go back."

If there is nothing wrong with the plane, then you have to fly back.

There is no fixed route to go back, and a temporary application is required.However, before that, Xu Cang had already reported that the scheduled departure time was one o'clock in the evening, and there was room for two hours to change.

If you finish it earlier, you can leave earlier. In addition, the approval of the final temporary route will also take time. Qin Xin reserved more time for approval, and two hours should be enough.

"That's no problem, I'll make a note of it." The old engineer nodded: "The receptionist just said that Victorville has a special drop-off pilot. The price is fixed, and you can go and find out, Mr. Qin, later."

"Is there such a service?" Qin Xin's original plan was to hire two crews from the Southwest to fly the plane back, and then add another crew to return. The price is much cheaper than the pilots transferred from China.

In fact, American Southwest doesn't do this, and it's Boeing who is going through the needle. It just so happens that several sets of American Southwest are going to the Guam base, but they are on the way.

The 737 is not like a wide-body jet that can fly from the United States to China in one go. It needs to stop for refueling in the middle. Most of them choose Guam or Hawaii.The original plan, Qin Xin wanted to stop in Hawaii, but the Southwest of the United States wanted to stop in Guam, so it was natural to rely on the Southwest of the United States.

"Yes, Mr. Qin, you can go to consult later, it seems that the price of the airport drop-off service here is not bad."

Qin Xin hummed, anyway, I'll have to wait for a long time, so it's okay to go and have a look.

"Boss Qin, let's go get busy." The old engineer didn't hesitate, and shouted at the rest of the operators: "Let's go, work."

Qin Xin didn't go to rest directly, but followed the old engineer to take a look.

To determine whether an aircraft is airworthy or not, it is not enough to just slap your head and turn around to look around.Each maintenance staff will have an extremely cumbersome inspection work list, which needs to be checked one by one, and ticked in front of an item.

Qin Xin saw that the inspection work sheet had four or five pages, and it was densely packed with projects. No wonder the old engineer said that it was too much to finish today.

However, even if you don't catch up today, it doesn't matter if you go back a little later.Since the 9 incident, the number of international routes in the United States has dropped sharply, and it is not troublesome to apply for temporary routes.

After looking at it for a while, Qin Xin was sure that she couldn't understand it at all, and that she didn't feel comfortable staying with the maintenance staff, so she simply went to Victorville's lounge.

Victorville's resting place is not big, just a two-story building.However, the decoration is exquisite.

In such a desert area, green plants are planted around the small building, and there is a row of huge unknown trees surrounding the surrounding area. The dense branches and leaves block the impact of wind and sand, and you are not outside at all. The discomfort of the face being cut by the wind and sand.

In addition to the trees that block the wind and sand, there is a small square in front of the small building. There is even a small open-air swimming pool in the middle of the square.

There are green lawns outside the square, and eight large parasols are distributed among them. There is a deck chair under the umbrella. Taking a nap on the deck chair has a special flavor. There is also waiter service in the small building, which can provide drinks and the like Drinks and service are quite attentive.

Qin Xin had booked a room before she came here, but she didn't want to go to the room for the time being, she planned to drink something and take a walk outside.

Perhaps because of the recent downturn in the civil aviation market, Victorville has no one else.When Qin Xin came here, she only saw a Caucasian man in the lawn area, smoking a cigarette, with a sad face, and she didn't know why.

Just as Qin Xin stepped onto the small square, he heard a rush of footsteps from the side, followed by a deep man's voice behind him: "Miss Qin!"

Qin Xin turned her head and looked, it was the white man who was smoking on the lawn just now.At this moment, he was standing two steps away from Qin Xin, keeping a certain distance.

This is a more polite gesture.

Everyone has their own social distance, about two steps or so.

If you are not very familiar with someone, you will feel uncomfortable if someone leans too close to you.For those who are proficient in etiquette, it is best not to get too close when meeting for the first time, especially Qin Xin is a woman, otherwise it is easy to be rude.

If Xu Cang is here, he must know that this person is the president of Bombardier C-Series Company, Ryan Valette.

His Chinese accent is very authentic, at least much better than that Chinese reception.

Qin Xin had never seen Ren Valette before, and frowned slightly: "You are?"

"Ren Valet, the president of Bombardier C-Series Aircraft Company." Renn Valet introduced himself: "Miss Qin, we meet for the first time."

Saying that, Ren Valette stretched out his right hand.

However, Qin Xin didn't shake hands with him, she was not used to having physical contact with the opposite sex, especially such a man who was meeting for the first time.

"The person in charge of Bombardier's aircraft department?" Qin Xin raised her eyebrows, obviously not expecting to meet Ren Valette here: "Are you waiting for me here specifically? Are you investigating my itinerary?"

Although her itinerary was not kept secret, Qin Xin was very unhappy with Ren Valette's behavior.

Ren Valette was rather apologetic: "Miss Qin, I have something important to discuss with Mr. Xu Cang"

"Then go find him!" Qin Xin snorted, very dissatisfied.

"Miss Qin, please forgive me." Ren Valette was a little embarrassed: "Mr. Xu Cang is quite difficult to communicate. If possible, I hope that Miss Qin will convey my thoughts on my behalf."

Qin Xin glanced at Ren Valette, showing a trace of teasing: "Are you afraid of him?"

"Mr. Xu Cang is a dragon and a phoenix among people, and he is afraid when he sees it. He really can't talk anymore."

"Your Chinese is very good." Qin Xin pursed her lips: "Tell me, what do you want me to tell you?"

Ren Valette secretly breathed a sigh of relief, and then calmed down his emotions: "Miss Qin, not long ago, the people we sent to Kawasaki Heavy Industries reported back that Kawasaki Heavy Industries refused to be our parts supplier."

Qin Xin was slightly surprised, but soon understood: "You should know Xu Cang's attitude."

"Yes." Ren Valette nodded respectfully: "I will not test Mr. Xu Cang's bottom line again, and I am willing to accept Mr. Xu Cang's conditions. However, I hope that Mr. Xu Cang will stop instigating our union."

"Union?" Qin Xin was startled, thinking of Richard Bayer, who Xu Cang had a good personal relationship with, she understood it very well.

A long time ago, Xu Cang mentioned that he would use Bombardier's labor union to give the final blow.

After solving the matter of Kawasaki Heavy Industries, it is impossible for Bombardier to find a suitable parts supplier in a short period of time. After all, the fuselage parts of large passenger aircraft cannot be made casually.

In fact, at this moment, Bombardier has already lost, and Xu Cang blocked all their ways of survival.The pressure of trade unions will become a deadlock that Bombardier cannot solve.

Bombardier has accumulated a lot of labor disputes due to poor management.Now that there is a unified organization, and it is impossible for Bombardier to improve financially in the short term to fill the hole, these labor disputes will be fatal.

Judging by Ren Valette's attitude, Bombardier couldn't hold it anymore.

"When you broke your promise, you should think of this moment." Qin Xin sneered, "What do you Bombardier want to do?"

Ren Valette gritted his teeth: "The meaning of the board of directors is to divest the aircraft business to Mr. Xu Cang at a symbolic price. However, correspondingly, the debts of the aircraft business department are also borne by Mr. Xu Cang."

"Debt?" Qin Xin smiled softly: "I can wait for you to go bankrupt, and then wait for the public auction to obtain relevant technologies. At that time, we don't need to take on debt."

The corner of Ren Valette's mouth twitched a few times. How could Qin Xin have the same temperament as Xu Cang? She really wasn't a family member, so she wouldn't enter a family.

"Miss Qin, the MRJ aircraft project of Japan's Mitsubishi Heavy Industries also needs our technology. Even if you wait for the public auction, it will not be easy for you to compete with Mitsubishi Heavy Industries."

"You don't need to care about this, Xu Cang will let Mitsubishi Heavy Industries understand that the MRJ aircraft project is doomed to be a useless effort." Qin Xin is full of confidence: "Except for Japan's Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, the rest seems to be interested in your C series aircraft technology A strong contender."

"Impossible. Japan's aircraft industry is much stronger than yours. Why do you think Mitsubishi Heavy Industries' MRJ project is useless?"

A cold light flashed across Qin Xin's eyes: "Mr. Valette, if you have gone through so many things and are still sticking the word "impossible" on Xu Cang, then it can only be said that you have not learned the lesson. Xu Cang Cang can solve Kawasaki Heavy Industries, why can’t it solve Mitsubishi Heavy Industries.”

"Do you know that Mitsubishi Heavy Industries is just a department under the Mitsubishi Group? Mitsubishi Group has ten of the world's top [-] companies. Do you want to fight them?"

"Mr. Vallett, please pay attention to your words." Qin Xin's voice was cold: "There are some things that you don't need to teach me. Now I give you two choices. We can take over your previous debts, but you not only have to divest The C-series aircraft business, including the business jet business, will also be spun off. However, we can allow you to retain a part of the business jet business in order to obtain corresponding dividends.”

As a result, Ren Valette immediately vetoed it: "Absolutely not. The business jet department is our most profitable department. How could it be given to you? The only company that needs to be spun off from the headquarters is the C Series Aircraft Company."

"Then there is a second way, which is to give us all the rail transit department and not keep any shares. We want to hold [-]% of the shares." Qin Xin said firmly: "Business jet and rail transit, you choose one. In addition, I advise Just one sentence, don’t put your hope on Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, they can’t save you.”