Which airline alliance - Star Alliance, oneworld, SkyTeam - will China Eastern finally choose to join has been the subject of intense speculation this week by the Chinese media, writes Margie T Logarta of ABTN's sister publication Business Traveller Asia-Pacific.
The carrier is the only one of the country's top three aviation players not to have joined an airline grouping. Rivals Air China and China Southern are already members of Star Alliance and SkyTeam respectively.
While no China Eastern official will go on record to reveal the choice and pre-empt an official announcement, they have admitted that the decision will be revealed today, April 16, 2010 if not shortly after. The local newspapers, including the China Daily, have trumpeted SkyTeam as the beneficiary.
For more about the airline, visit www.flychinaeastern.com