China Eastern Airlines yesterday continued to hope that it could secure Singapore Airlines as a strategic investor even though its stake sale deal expired officially on Saturday.

CEA noted in a statement that the deal, reached last September, was "automatically terminated owing to the preconditions for implementing the agreement had not been satisfied by the deadline."

Board Secretary Luo Zhuping yesterday said that the sale's revival depends on acceptance by the carrier's shareholders and rejected local speculation that SIA has lost interest in a partnership. "Whether to renew the agreement or not, and when to renew the agreement, is only a technical issue," Luo said.

Meantime, SIA said yesterday that it would continue to seek other ways to establish a foothold in China and that it is optimistic about the future of that country's commercial aviation industry. An SIA spokesperson recently told media that the carrier has not given up on the CEA deal even though it was rejected by shareholders in January. The spokesperson, Stephen Forshaw, claimed SIA's cooperation with CEA would focus on the commercial aspect and said it would not rule out an investment as long as the purchase price of HK$3.80 ($0.49) per share was accepted by CEA shareholders.

Air China Chairman Kong Dong noted recently that the Beijing-based carrier remains interested in increasing its stake in CEA. CA parent CNAC is CEA's largest circulation shareholder at 12.07%. CEA's share price closed at HK$1.97 yesterday.