China’s booming e-commerce industry and the ability of the nation’s small businesses to export hazardous materials are posing a safety concern for the country’s air transport industry, the head of the International Air Transport Association (IATA) said yesterday.
Ensuring the safe transport of lithium batteries is of particular importance, due to the complex supply chains involved, IATA director general and chief executive Tony Tyler told an industry forum in Beijing.
“Disappointingly, we are seeing some willful non-compliance in the area of lithium batteries, particularly in China,” Tyler said. “It would be a shame if China’s exemplary safety record were compromised because of such negligence.”
Boeing Co warned last month that high-density packages of lithium batteries like those used in cellphones and laptops pose fire risks and should not be carried on passenger planes until safer methods for carrying them are developed.
The risk is “continually increasing and requires action to be taken,” the aircraft maker said.
However, Chinese aviation officials stressed the safety record of Chinese airlines.
Over the past five years, Chinese carriers beat world averages for safety, despite double-digit annual growth of passenger volume, Civil Aviation Administration of China head of safety Wu Chengchang (吳成昌) said.
The country’s air passenger volume has been rising by 11.1 percent annually from 2010 to last year, but its accident rate for each one million hours was just 0.03, significantly lower than the world average of 0.2, Wu added.
Major accidents per 1 million flights stood at 0.07, also better than world average of 0.39, during the period, he added.
Tyler also called for better coordination between the country’s civil aviation authority and the military to minimize the impact of military exercises on civilian airline services.
China has been scrambling to build airports across the country to keep pace with its fast-growing civil aviation market, but its military-controlled airspace has made flight delays the norm.
Military drills can also be a headache. In July last year, drills led to a near shutdown of 20 airports in eastern China, with air traffic capacity falling by as much as three-quarters at Shanghai’s two main airports.
Earlier in the month, China announced a plan to open 10 new air corridors to help ease chronic air traffic congestion and address the problem of frequent flight delays.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, yesterday said its materials management head, Vanessa Lee (李文如), had tendered her resignation for personal reasons. The personnel adjustment takes effect tomorrow, TSMC said in a statement. The latest development came one month after Lee reportedly took leave from the middle of last month. Cliff Hou (侯永清), senior vice president and deputy cochief operating officer, is to concurrently take on the role of head of the materials management division, which has been under his supervision, TSMC said. Lee, who joined TSMC in 2022, was appointed senior director of materials management and
Nvidia Corp CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) on Thursday met with US President Donald Trump at the White House, days before a planned trip to China by the head of the world’s most valuable chipmaker, people familiar with the matter said. Details of what the two men discussed were not immediately available, and the people familiar with the meeting declined to elaborate on the agenda. Spokespeople for the White House had no immediate comment. Nvidia declined to comment. Nvidia’s CEO has been vocal about the need for US companies to access the world’s largest semiconductor market and is a frequent visitor to China.
MAJOR CONTRIBUTOR: Revenue from AI servers made up more than 50 percent of Wistron’s total server revenue in the second quarter, the company said Wistron Corp (緯創) on Tuesday reported a 135.6 percent year-on-year surge in revenue for last month, driven by strong demand for artificial intelligence (AI) servers, with the momentum expected to extend into the third quarter. Revenue last month reached NT$209.18 billion (US$7.2 billion), a record high for June, bringing second-quarter revenue to NT$551.29 billion, a 129.47 percent annual increase, the company said. Revenue in the first half of the year totaled NT$897.77 billion, up 87.36 percent from a year earlier and also a record high for the period, it said. The company remains cautiously optimistic about AI server shipments in the third quarter,
Hypermarket chain Carrefour Taiwan and upscale supermarket chain Mia C’bon on Saturday announced the suspension of their partnership with Jkopay Co (街口支付), one of Taiwan’s largest digital payment providers, amid a lawsuit involving its parent company. Carrefour and Mia C’bon said they would notify customers once Jkopay services are reinstated. The two retailers joined an array of other firms in suspending their partnerships with Jkopay. On Friday night, popular beverage chain TP Tea (茶湯會) also suspended its use of the platform, urging customers to opt for alternative payment methods. Another drinks brand, Guiji (龜記), on Friday said that it is up to individual
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