China Airlines chairman to face music

China Airlines Chairman Lee Yun-ning (李雲寧) yesterday denied reports suggesting that he was ready to resign to take responsibility for Saturday's air crash.

"It would be an irresponsible and cowardly act if I were to resign now," Lee said.

Lee stressed that he couldn't back out at a moment when the most important issue is to face up to reality and find out what caused the accident.

Lee was responding to speculation that he would tender his resignation at a CAL board meeting yesterday.

There were also reports saying that some CAL officials would be punished with dismissal and that the company would cut the pay of employees by 3 to 5 percent.

According to CAL Senior Vice President James Chang (張良士), the company does not intend to consider the matter of punishment at present, given that the cause of the crash has yet to be established.

Although the board meeting did approve some personnel adjustment proposals, these proposals were raised before the crash and had nothing to do with the accident, Chang said.

He also denied that CAL had any plan to cut the pay of its employees.

Chang said the company would never reduce the payroll to compensate for business losses, as all employees are "partners" of the company.

Chang said the company's top concern now is to try to recover its image, which has suffered yet another devastating blow due to the crash.

Based on past experience, an air crash is likely to have an impact on the company's business for approximately four months, during which the number of passengers and profits would fall, Chang said.

He estimated that CAL would lose NT$170 million in annual profits as a result of the disaster.

In addition, CAL has postponed cooperation with the Delta Air Lines after the crash, Chang said (See below).

He said only a small number of passengers have sought refunds for CAL tickets and that the company would continue to watch the market's reaction before deciding on whether to cut ticket prices in July and August to boost sales.

On compensation for the crash victims, Chang would not predict the amount that CAL would offer but promised that the company would "definitely respect the opinion of the bereaved families."

In addition to NT$100,000 in consolation money for the families of each victim, the company would soon pay another NT$400,000 for the funeral expenses of each victim, Chang said.