New chair for China Air
China Airlines (華航), Taiwan's largest carrier, has chosen Chiang Yao-chung (江耀宗), an associate of President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁), as its new chairman, according to an official with China Aviation Development Foundation, the company's largest shareholder.
Chiang, 52, vice chairman of Taiwan's Public Construction Commission, will take over from Lee Yun-ning (李雲寧), 71, pending approval by the airline's board, according to Lin Chun-cheng (林純正), secretary-general of China Aviation.
Chiang was appointed to his current post after Chen took office in May 2000.
He was chief engineer of Taipei's Rapid Transit system from 1996 to 1997, when Chen was mayor of the city. Chiang was later promoted to deputy director-general and then director-general of the city's Department of Rapid Transit Systems.
``We hope he will help further improve China Air's security, maintenance and operations,'' Lin said.
Chiang worked for the government's Chung Shan Institute for Science & Technology from 1978 to 1996. He was born in the Tainan County. Chen is from Tainan too.
China Aviation holds a 70 percent stake in China Airlines.
Shares of China Airlines closed unchanged at NT$16.80 on the TAIEX. They have gained 20 percent this year.
Name change at Acer?
Stan Shih (施振榮), chairman and CEO of Acer Group, suggested that the name "pan-Acer group," which has been in use since the company's restructuring in late 2000, should be changed to "ABW Family" after he retires at the end of the year, according to a statement released by the company yesterday.
The title is used to describe Acer, BenQ and Wistron, the three competitor companies with the same origin, the statement said.
Acer's personal computer deliveries rose 31 percent to 1.3 million units in the second quarter, according to market researcher Gartner Inc.
Loan deal signed
Taiwan Fixed Network Co (台灣固網) is scheduled to sign a contract today for a NT$15 billion joint loan from 13 banks, the company said in a statement yesterday.
The three-year loan is set to provide Taiwan Fix Network cash that the company needs to pay its shareholders by the end of September. The company's general meeting approved a NT$27.66-billion (US$824 million) capital-cut plan and decided to return cash to shareholders last month, the company's chairman, Daniel Tsai (蔡明忠), said in the statement.
The 13 banks include ChinaTrust Commercial Bank (中國信託商業銀行), the International Commercial Bank of China (中國國際商業銀行) and Taipei Bank (台北銀行).
Jobs to be cut
State-run companies will reduce their workforce by about 800 people through attrition and early-retirement offers, a Chinese-language newspaper reported, without saying where it obtained the information.
Among the companies, Taiwan Sugar Corp (台糖) will reduce its workforce by about 400 people, and Chinese Petroleum Corp (中油) will shrink its staff by 210 this year after reducing it by 120 in March, the report said. Taiwan Power Co (台電) and Aerospace Industrial Development Corp (漢翔) also plan to reduce their workforces, it said. The companies also may replace older employees with younger ones to cut salaries, the paper said.
NT dollar falls
The new Taiwan dollar moved down against the US dollar on the Taipei Foreign Exchange yesterday, losing NT$0.048 to close at NT$33.994.
A total of US$462 million changed hands.
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