Legendary Captain

Chapter 217 A Merit That Came to My Door (Seeking Monthly Tickets!)

"What do you mean?" Wang Xian moved closer to Li Chuan and casually flipped through the documents in Li Chuan's hand. They were all forms and such, not his area of ​​expertise, and he was completely baffled.

This sales data is simple, only a few pages long, but for Li Chuan, it carries immense weight.

"In the past week, our company's sales of related merchandise have already equaled half a year's worth! And this growth momentum is still continuing!" Li Chuan said excitedly, "The trend of airfare sales hasn't been statistically analyzed yet, but it should also see a significant increase. I didn't expect the traffic attracted by Lianshan Snow to be monetized so quickly."

Because the civil aviation industry is showing signs of becoming more entertainment-oriented, the emergence of popular celebrities on certain airlines can lead to a surge in related sales.

In addition to ticket sales, airlines also offer a variety of merchandise, such as airplane models, keychains, scarves, hats, sunglasses, cushions, toy dolls, and even custom-made pilot and flight attendant uniforms for sale.

In the past, airlines' peripheral sales were mostly just ancillary sales, and the money they earned was negligible compared to the money earned from air tickets and value-added services. Therefore, few airlines would put a lot of effort into peripheral sales.

However, since Xu Qing and Han Qi rose to prominence, the fan-oriented nature of the entire civil aviation industry has become increasingly apparent. The peripheral sales of Qingyuan Group and Kunlong Airlines have skyrocketed, even surpassing the performance of their main business at one point, making other airlines extremely envious.

But as much as they envied, 80% of the fans of the entire civil aviation industry were concentrated on Xu Qing and Han Qi. Even if other airlines wanted to increase the sales of peripheral products, they did not have a large audience and could only eat scraps. Even though it was much better than before, it was still not their main business and they were still barely hanging on.

Star Travel has certainly put effort into peripheral products, and even invited famous designers to design them, but sales have always been dismal, with annual sales of only around 400,000 to 500,000.

It's worth noting that even though sales of peripheral products from Qingyuan Group and Kunlong Airlines aren't as high as they used to be, they still generate over 160 million yuan in annual revenue. This sales volume would be considered a core business for any airline. In comparison, it's a stark contrast between the extremes of success and failure.

After consulting with other airlines, Xingyou Airlines' marketing department roughly knew that apart from Qingyuan Group and Kunlong Airlines, other companies were mostly in the same stagnant state, so they didn't feel any resentment.

After a long period of stagnant growth, without any warning or prior investment, the sales of peripheral products in the past week reached a staggering 160,000, which is already half of last year's sales. When Li Chuan saw this data, he felt like he was dreaming.

According to professional assessments, the sudden popularity of Lianshan Snow seems to have had no influence from online trolls; it was entirely due to the support of netizens themselves.

The most positive comments about Lian Shanxue online are that she is a role model for women in the new era. Not only is she highly skilled in her profession, but she is also very beautiful. Most importantly, she did not abandon the unconscious captain during the emergency of the plane depressurization. This shows that Lian Shanxue is not only tenacious, but also kind and virtuous. Overall, she is simply a perfect template for independent women.

Today, with the awakening of female consciousness, women are more willing to pursue independent self-realization rather than depend on men. At this time, flawless role models like Lian Shanxue, upon their emergence, have attracted a large following among female netizens.

In the traditionally male-dominated field of aviation, the emergence of a female pilot like Lian Shanxue, and one who is so outstanding, makes her all the more precious.

Female pilots weren't nonexistent before, though their numbers were small, they weren't extremely rare. However, since the domestic civil aviation industry began recruiting female pilots, they have mostly been seen as decorative figures. Airlines rarely recruit female pilots because they genuinely believe women are suited for the job.

Either they recruit female pilots to conform to the current trend of gender equality in society, demonstrating that they do not discriminate against women in their work; or it's just a publicity stunt. Airlines with this mentality tend to recruit female pilots who are merely decorative, and Lianshanxue is a case in point.

In the past, there were capable female pilots, but their numbers were extremely small, and they rarely had the opportunity to showcase their abilities. The story of the first female captain in China only garnered limited attention; it didn't spread as widely as it has this time.

There are many reasons for this, but online public opinion is inherently difficult to predict, and even the most experienced planners dare not say they can predict the direction of online trends with 100% certainty.

Just like a certain online survey, the main consumer group is still women. Once the support of female users is gained, huge spending power will follow.

Since the popularity of Lianshan Snow was not artificially created but genuinely developed, the surge in sales of Xingyou Aviation's merchandise was to be expected. In fact, Li Chuan felt that selling over 100,000 units in a week was almost too little.

This was all predictable. Since Star Travel hasn't actively guided users to monetize its online traffic yet, the current growth in sales of its merchandise is mostly spontaneous. If Star Travel were to proactively guide netizens to make purchases, the sales growth of its merchandise would be even faster.

Since taking office, Li Chuan had never had such a good opportunity to showcase himself. However, just when he thought he had no chance of promotion, fate gave him this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

If he manages this Lianshan Snow project well, he might not have to continue living a mediocre life.

With Li Chuan's explanation, Wang Xian found it much easier to read the sales report. After glancing at it briefly, he clicked his tongue and said somewhat sourly, "You really hit the jackpot this time! If you do this case well, you might get promoted."

Someone like Li Chuan, at the director level, would be a top contender for president if he were to advance further. The current president, parachuted in, is purely temporary, a position left vacant due to Wen Mingyuan stepping down as chairman and Wen Jingshu temporarily filling the role. If a suitable candidate becomes available at any time, the current president of Xingyou Airlines can immediately step down.

Thinking about how his career advancement had already come to an end without any unexpected circumstances, Wang Xian felt even more bitter.

"Thank God!" Li Chuan was very proud, his mouth stretching all the way to his ears.

Suddenly, Li Chuan remembered something and asked, "What's this anonymous voting for co-pilots that the Flight Department has been doing lately?"

"Oh, that! What does their internal strife in the flight department have to do with you? Don't worry about such things!" Wang Xian usually didn't pay special attention to news outside the maintenance system. However, the flight department was making such a fuss that he couldn't ignore it even if he wanted to.

Recently, Qin Zongyang advocated for an anonymous vote among co-pilots. The main content of the vote was a very serious investigation into whether the current work pressure was excessive, whether various meetings were unnecessary, and whether the service attitude of ground staff was acceptable.

Qin Zongyang originally only intended to investigate the first two, but some bold co-pilots directly told him that many ground personnel in the flight department also had an extremely bad attitude towards co-pilots, so he temporarily added them.

Although it's hard to understand why a group of ground staff earning three or four thousand, or even four or five thousand a month, can so easily give the attitude to a co-pilot who earns thirty or forty thousand a month, this situation seems to be real.

It's as if, within an airline's flight system, the co-pilot is someone anyone can step on, even though their salary level exceeds that of over 90% of the workforce.

This is indeed a very difficult phenomenon to understand, and the co-pilots couldn't figure it out either, so they were eager to change it.

At this moment, Qin Zongyang, who originally had a bad reputation in the co-pilot circle, became the one who volunteered for the co-pilot position. It can only be said that life is unpredictable.

Adding a survey option regarding the service attitude of ground staff was actually quite offensive, since Qin Zongyang often had to deal with ground staff besides flying, and doing so was likely to provoke public anger. However, Qin Zongyang did it anyway. The incident involving his eldest disciple Zhang Chen seemed to have opened a door for Qin Zongyang, elevating his entire being.

Li Chuan had no interest in the flight department's petty squabbles; he was concerned about something else entirely: "I certainly have no problem with the flight department humiliating themselves. They're all a bunch of useless idiots anyway, so infighting is normal. But Lian Shanxue is still in the flight department! Those good-for-nothings in the flight department better than to drag our marketing department down!"

Lian Shanxue's operational plan is actually quite easy to implement. This is thanks to Lian Shanxue's high standards for herself, rather than simply seeing herself as a pretty face. Even when accepting various promotional and shooting assignments, she remains disciplined and rises quickly. This work ethic alone is commendable. Furthermore, Lian Shanxue's mother, Tian Huiyun, suffers from a serious illness, and as the only daughter in the family, Lian Shanxue shoulders the heavy responsibility of caring for her mother alone—this is another point that can be emphasized in promotional materials.

He's filial, hardworking, capable, and good-looking—without a single flaw. If Li Chuan can't manage this perfect persona, then he's really wasted his life these past few years.

Given Lian Shanxue's exceptional qualities, establishing his persona wasn't difficult with this opportunity. His only fear was that the brainless idiots in the flight department would hold him back.

If the infighting within the Flight Department escalates too much, and is then amplified by someone with ulterior motives, it will become a laughingstock. It wouldn't matter if the Flight Department became a laughingstock, but Lian Shanxue, being a member of the Flight Department, would find it difficult to remain unscathed.

The flight department is a complete mess, and Li Chuan might even set off firecrackers to celebrate, so he won't have to clean up after these useless bastards anymore. But if it affects Lian Shanxue and his promotion, he'll definitely strangle Qin Zongyang.

"Qin Zongyang and Lu Xinyu are already at each other's throats. You'd better not get involved. Those two are both a bit dim-witted. Be careful not to let the fire spread and cause innocent bystanders to suffer." After his apprentice Qi Fengyang's introduction, Wang Xian roughly knew about the mess in the flight department, so he had some understanding of just how fierce the internal struggles in the flight department were.

When two mad dogs start fighting, they might bite the onlookers too. Although both Lu Xinyu and Qin Zongyang are two ranks lower than Li Chuan, they are still deputy general managers of a key department. If they were to bite them, it would definitely not be a pleasant experience.

"Speaking of which, which side do you support? Aren't you and Luo Qing on good terms? The Vice President of Operations has a lot of influence over the selection of the General Manager of the Flight Department, after all, he's your direct superior. Do you have any inside information?" Li Chuan asked.

Wang Xian suddenly laughed: "These two are wasting their time arguing now. The real decision on who will sit in the position of general manager of the flight department won't be made by themselves, nor by Luo Qing, but by someone else. Just wait and see!"

"You really have inside information?" Li Chuan had only said it casually, but it turned out he'd actually heard something that seemed quite explosive. He nudged Wang Xian, "Give me a hint!"

Wang Xian shook his head: "Heavenly secrets cannot be revealed, but I can give you some hints. Don't look up, look down!"

"You're saying none of those old fogies are willing to come?" In the office, listening to Cao Jinwen's report, Lu Xinyu's face immediately darkened.

Previously, he had Cao Jinwen act as a go-between, inviting the standing committee members of the Xingyou Aviation Technology Committee to a gathering, and to exchange pleasantries and make a request privately.

However, after Cao Jinwen contacted several people, none of them were willing to come, which surprised Lu Xinyu.

Because of Wen Jingshu's reprimand last time, Lu Xinyu put aside his pride and was able to befriend those old teachers. Their relationship was no longer as cold as before.

Lu Xinyu was fully expecting that even if the standing committee members didn't give him face, it wouldn't be a problem for more than half of them to show up. But the result was a slap in the face.

"Have you found out what the standing committee members are saying?" Lu Xinyu asked with a gloomy face.

Cao Jinwen lowered his eyes: "The two appointed representatives, He Changyuan and Wang Lingkun, have already publicly expressed their support for Qin Zongyang. With Qin Zongyang himself added, just one more person would be enough to force the convening of a temporary technical committee."

"He Changyuan and Qin Zongyang are in cahoots, so what's the deal with Wang Lingkun?"

"Well..." Cao Jinwen hesitated for a moment, but still said, "Wang Lingkun seems to have a lot of grievances against you, President Lu."

Did I offend him?

Cao Jinwen shook his head: "No! It must be his own fault."

Cao Jinwen essentially made it clear that Wang Lingkun simply disliked him. Wang Lingkun was a stubborn man; he just couldn't stand Lu Xinyu, that arrogant guy, and nothing could change his mind. As for the impact of this temporary technical committee meeting, that was never something Wang Lingkun, with his blunt nature, would consider. In any case, he rarely took his reputation seriously.

"Damn it, I should have stripped him of his standing committee member status on the technical committee sooner." Previously, Wang Lingkun had taken all the blame for the overheating communication panel, losing both his inspector and instructor qualifications. Logically, his standing committee member status should have been revoked as well. However, the appointment and removal of standing committee members, like that of the chief pilot, requires the participation of more than two-thirds of the committee members to decide on the removal of a standing committee member. Meetings of this scale aren't held arbitrarily, which is why Wang Lingkun's standing committee member status was delayed, ultimately becoming a tool for scapegoating Lu Xinyu.

As for the two representatives appointed by the authorities, Lu Xinyu didn't even ask. He didn't have the power to influence representatives at that level; their decisions were entirely based on their own conscience. Perhaps those two representatives were already dissatisfied with Lu Xinyu's actions, or had objections to the clearly unreasonable combination of the deputy general manager of the flight department concurrently serving as chief pilot, and hoped to use this opportunity to set things right.

"Now we only need one more person!" Lu Xinyu didn't expect to be driven to the brink of despair so quickly. He seemed to have been too optimistic about his situation.

Among the remaining people, there was Cao Jinwen, Lin Bo, himself, the general manager of the safety supervision department, and two veteran instructors.

Then Lu Xinyu turned to Cao Jinwen and said, "You wouldn't stab me in the back, would you?"

Cao Jinwen said expressionlessly, "President Lu, given the current situation, it's not my turn to stab you in the back."

"Oh? You think the convening of this technical committee meeting is a done deal?" Lu Xinyu's eyes darted around, and he realized that apart from himself, there was no one else he could completely control.

After all these years of struggling, he's still all alone in the flight department.

Originally, Lin Bo, the general manager of the flight department, had clearly expressed his support, but after Qi Fengyang's warning, even Lin Bo was no longer entirely confident.

Qi Fengyang could definitely influence Luo Qing, the Vice President of Operations, through Wang Xian, the Vice President of Maintenance. Luo Qing was Lin Bo's former superior. Back when Luo Qing was the General Manager of the Flight Department, Lin Bo was his Deputy General Manager. If Luo Qing were influenced by others and harbored resentment towards him, Lin Bo felt he would abandon him without hesitation.

As one of Lu Xinyu's former backers, Lu Xinyu knew Lin Bo's character very well.

At this moment, Lu Xinyu was filled with a sense of utter helplessness. Qin Zongyang, whom he had always looked down upon, had launched a terrifyingly desperate attack after abandoning everything, leaving him with no chance to retaliate.

Looking at Lu Xinyu's ashen face, Cao Jinwen felt a pang of pity. This once spirited and brilliant pilot had ultimately lost his way in the vortex of power, forgetting his former principles.

He sighed, "President Lu, if the convening of the temporary technical committee is truly a done deal, you should resign yourself!"

Lu Xinyu's eyes widened suddenly, filled with boundless rage, but after glaring for only a few seconds, he slumped back into his chair in despair.

In the history of China's civil aviation, there have been precedents of technical committees attempting to dismiss chief pilots. However, upon learning that the technical committee seeking to dismiss them would convene, all those chief pilots, without exception, resigned from their positions.

Some protested against the technical committee, while others simply wanted to save face and leave gracefully. There was never a third case.

If anyone falls into the third category, it will inevitably become a huge joke in the history of civil aviation.

As Lu Xinyu's subordinate, Cao Jinwen sincerely offered Lu Xinyu a way to preserve his dignity, even if it was a drastic measure.

In the past, anyone who asked him to resign from his position as chief pilot would have surely provoked Lu Xinyu's fury. But this time, Lu Xinyu seemed to have lost his spine, his former sharpness gone. He simply waved his hand and said, "I'll consider it."

Seeing Lu Xinyu's distraught state, Cao Jinwen knew it was best not to linger and prepared to leave. But as soon as he turned around, he remembered something and said to Lu Xinyu, "Mr. Lu, it seems you haven't reviewed the technical notification regarding the circling approach."

"Circling approach? Our company has circling approach?" Lu Xinyu asked curiously.

"Our company doesn't have it, but Chimelong does! We need to be consistent!"

Star Travel Airlines does not fly circling approaches, so issuing a circling approach NOTAM is a complete waste of time. However, in order to follow the lead of its parent company, Star Travel Airlines' flight department had no choice but to also issue a circling approach technical NOTAM that was absolutely unnecessary.

"Oh!" Lu Xinyu scratched his head. "It's that email! I thought someone sent it to the wrong person! I know, I'll check it later. If there are no problems, I'll reply with my review comments."

Many technical bulletins are not actually drafted by the chief pilot; they are simply reviewed by the chief pilot and then issued in the chief pilot's name.

"Alright, Mr. Lu, if there's nothing else, I'll be going now."

Lu Xinyu didn't reply, but simply waved her hand to indicate that she understood.

At this moment, Lu Xinyu's office was deathly quiet. Cao Jinwen didn't want to stay any longer, so he quickly left the office after finishing his business.

As soon as Cao Jinwen came out, he ran into Xu Xian, who was carrying a stack of documents. He had a good impression of Xu Xian and greeted him, "What are you doing?"

Xu Xian was unfamiliar with the squadron leader, and replied respectfully, "Instructor, I've landed long enough and am ready to report for promotion to Level 4."

Cao Jinwen, being a junior manager in his department, was hardly worthy of being called "General Manager Cao," so Xu Xian addressed him by his technical rank to avoid being impolite.

"So you've already become a Level 4 co-pilot?" Cao Jinwen glanced at what Xu Xian was holding, and sure enough, on top of it was a white-covered promotion logbook.

"That's right! The time required to go from level three to level four is already quite short."

"Great news, great news!" Cao Jinwen laughed. "However, your promotion may have to be postponed for a while."

"What's wrong?"

"The technical committee is in complete chaos right now. Your position isn't a key one, so there probably won't be time to review it anytime soon. It'll likely have to be postponed."

All applications for promotion to higher technical levels must be reviewed by the Technical Committee. However, the permanent and non-permanent members of the Technical Committee are currently focusing most of their energy on the issue of dismissing the chief pilot, leaving them with little energy to deal with promotion matters.

For promotions to key positions, such as a promotion to Level 3 co-pilot or a change to the left-hand seat, the technical committee might take the time out of their busy schedules to review it. But for insignificant promotions like Level 3 to Level 4, the committee members probably wouldn't even bother to review them.

Xu Xian knew something about the fierce battle between his master and Lu Xinyu, and figured Cao Jinwen wouldn't lie to him. However, Xu Xian wasn't in a hurry for this non-critical promotion; a little extra time in the evening wouldn't hurt.

"Anyway, it's all signed off. I'll submit it first. Once it's reviewed, just arrange a flight path inspection for me." Before applying for promotion, Xu Xian still needs to get signatures from various departments. After they're all signed, he'll return it to the Flight Standards Department, which will then submit it to the Technical Committee for discussion. As for when they'll reach a conclusion, Xu Xian will just wait.

"This can't be rushed," Cao Jinwen said. "However, aren't you going to try to dissuade your master from the anonymous investigation he initiated? It's going to offend quite a few people on the ground."

Xu Xian had personally participated in the anonymous investigation, so he was naturally aware of it. He didn't see anything wrong with Qin Zongyang including the service attitude of ground personnel in the investigation.

"It's always others who pick on us in the passenger seat; we've never picked on anyone else. But if they have any sense of propriety, this investigation is just a formality. What's the big deal? Unless, of course, everything listed in the investigation is true. And if the questions listed above really offend someone, then they'll feel offended."

Cao Jinwen was stunned. What a disciple of Qin Zongyang! His bad temper was exactly the same!

"By the way, where's your master? Did he fly today?"

Xu Xian nodded: "I'll fly to and from Tianning today, and I reckon I'll be back soon."

"He'll be back soon? I'll wait a bit then, I have something to talk to him about."

Achoo!

Inside the cockpit of Star Travel Flight 6774, Qin Zongyang sneezed, rubbed his nose, and muttered, "Did I catch a cold? Or is someone talking bad about me behind my back?"

"Instructor, what are you going to do if the anonymous survey you conducted on ground personnel turns out to show that those ground administrative staff have service problems?" the co-pilot asked.

Not long ago, Qin Zongyang's anonymous survey won the hearts of the co-pilot group! Now Qin Zongyang has become an idol of the co-pilots.

Qin Zongyang curled his lip: "If it really shows that there are problems with those local administrators, I'm going to start the anonymous complaint channel and make sure they're properly dealt with."

Upon hearing this, the co-pilot immediately became excited: "Those ground crew members all have terrible tempers. They've been ordering us around since we were trainees. I don't understand where they get their confidence. We don't expect them to be nice to us, but they can't just give us attitude for no reason."

It was clear that the co-pilot harbored a long-standing grudge against the ground administration staff.

"That's enough. It's not just about you; we still need to see the investigation results." Qin Zongyang nestled in his chair and asked, "By the way, have you finished reviewing the stress relief procedures recently?"

Although Qin Zongyang strongly disliked many meaningless learning sessions, appropriate reminders were still necessary. Holding a meeting specifically for a decompression procedure was obviously unnecessary. However, having the squadron leader check with each pilot by phone to see how well they understood the decompression procedure was still necessary.

This way, it won't take up too much of the pilots' time, and it can also serve as a form of supervision, achieving two goals at once.

"I've reviewed everything, and the squad leader has also called to ask."

Qin Zongyang yawned: "That's good! Getting familiar with the program is never a bad thing!"

The passenger in the front seat nodded repeatedly.

"We'll be there soon. I'm going to take a short nap. Keep an eye on things," Qin Zongyang said. He's getting older and can't compare to his younger days. He used to be energetic and vigorous, flying a full fourth stage, but now even two stages make his eyelids tremble. He needs to conserve his energy while he's still cruising, saving it for the approach phase.

"Okay! Instructor, you take a break! I'll watch the plane!"

Qin Zongyang hummed in agreement, and just as he closed his eyes, he suddenly felt the cockpit was a bit noisy, making it difficult to sleep. So he patted the co-pilot's shoulder: "Turn off the recirculation fan for me, it's too noisy!"

The recirculation fan is designed to reduce the workload of the components, but it is so noisy when it is running that some pilots say they can't stand it.

It's fine when I'm awake, but as soon as I close my eyes, the sound of the fan becomes much more noticeable.

"Oh!" the passenger replied.

Qin Zongyang didn't open his eyes to look, and soon after, the roar of the airflow fan subsided.

"Okay! That's about it. Watch carefully!" Once it quieted down, Qin Zongyang prepared to take a nap.

But just a few seconds after things quieted down, an audio warning sounded. Qin Zongyang opened his eyes abruptly and immediately recognized it as the cockpit altitude warning.

Qin Zongyang was stunned for a moment, then burst into laughter: "Kid, this is credit delivered right to your doorstep!"

This book is considerably longer than the last one! It was much easier to write!

(End of this chapter)