Chapter 1: IL-62 (1974)

Chapter 1: 1974. Decade before the split.

In the early days of Chinese Aviation, the Chinese Air Line Administration served a role beyond its modern role as a regulatory body. As founded in 1950, the CALA was the only airline of the People’s Republic of China. This was problematic. By the 1970s, the monopoly was in increasingly dire straights. Most concerning was the internal conflict between the airline’s two operating branches: CALA-Shanghai and CALA-Beijing. The two branches each maintained their own fleet of aircraft, employed their own crews, and had their own company culture. Shanghai, the smaller of the two branches, was eager to expand CALA's route network out from the fastest developing city in the country whilst focusing on fast and efficient service. Conversely, Beijing, being based in the capital of the country, was content with slow but steady and measured development of the country's aviation industry that emphasized tradition. By the 1970s, besides sharing a company name, the two branches had very little in common from a business perspective. Yet, they were both still under the centralized control of CALA, and to the general public, the only difference between the two branches was the city logos painted on the nose of each CALA aircraft. Perhaps the only sign of the growing tensions was the increasing size of those logos.

Many of history’s greatest conflicts are chalked up to a single action that sparked a tinderbox of belligerency. For the Spanish American War, it was the USS Maine. For CALA, it would be the IL-62. CALA-Shanghai had long cajoled and lobbied to take delivery of the IL-62. However, the first four of the type delivered to CALA were assigned to Beijing to operate international destinations like London, Paris, and Tokyo. Shanghai was slated to take delivery of 2 IL-62s, enabling them to start European service of their own. Politics were afoot and by 1974, CALA decided to assign all 6 IL-62s to the Beijing branch and instead allocated Boeing 737 orders to Shanghai. This was seen as a direct insult to CALA-Shanghai's director, Chen Ge Ping, who was vocal in demanding more freedom from the central corporation to dictate route choices, aircraft procurement, and fleet management for his branch. This proclamation came much to the dismay of Dong Xiao, the Director General of CALA, who conducted business from his Beijing office, and the man behind the reallocation of CALA-Shanghai's IL-62s. Chen flew up to Beijing to meet with Dong days before the final IL-62 was to be delivered, hoping to reach some common ground and procure his much-desired IL-62s, but ultimately the effort was unsuccessful. This only fueled Chen and Dong's public disagreement, which continued for the rest of the decade. Obviously Dong had more power, and the Shanghai branch's development suffered as a consequence of Chen's insubordination. In hindsight, the IL-62 feud was the beginning of the end of a unified CALA.