Air China parent says won't resubmit Eastern plan

SHANGHAI Jan 23 (Reuters) - The parent group of flag carrier Air China said on Wednesday that it would not submit a more detailed proposal for a tie-up with China Eastern Airlines unless China Eastern was willing to sit down at the negotiating table.

"We submitted our proposal to China Eastern (600115.SS) (0670.HK) after serious consideration," a senior executive of China National Aviation Corp (CNAC) told Reuters.

"China Eastern needs time to study it, and we will not come up with a more detailed proposal before it is willing to sit down with us at the negotiating table," said the executive, who declined to be named.

The statement could prolong a stand-off between CNAC and China Eastern, since China Eastern's parent group has said it will not even respond to CNAC's proposal without more details.

Last week CNAC proposed a "strategic partnership" between Air China (601111.SS)(0753.HK) and China Eastern, which it said could bring China Eastern Airlines a cash injection of US$1.9 billion and involve a broad tie-up between the two airlines' operations.

But China Eastern has insisted it will not accept Air China as a strategic investor, and the China Eastern group refused to respond to the proposal, saying it was incomplete and lacked legal validity. (Reporting by Fang Yan; Editing by Andrew Torchia)