Domestic aviation market taking off again, but international flights remain scarce
July 7, 2020 Category Travel, Weekly
China’s domestic aviation market is taking off on a steady recovery amid nationwide efforts to resume work, yet the situation of overseas flights remains gloomy, industry data showed. The average flying rate in June jumped to about 75% of its normal level, according to VariFlight, but overseas flights remain in scarce, with a flying rate of 18.3% of normal capacity. In June, average landing and takeoff volumes at domestic airports reached 22,470 aircraft, an increase of 18.8% compared to May, with maximum daily volumes nearing 2016 levels. The average passenger load factor was 66.85% of normal capacity, a 3.17 percentage point increase from May. The number of domestic flights taking off and landing in China now exceeds that of the U.S. by about 21.5%. Two airports, Jiangbei International Airport in Chongqing and Phoenix International Airport in Sanya in Hainan province, led the recovery, with their numbers of outbound flights bouncing back to over 80% of last year’s volumes, according to the VariFlight report. The first quarter of this year was the “darkest moment” for various airlines across the country. Six listed airlines lost a total of more than CNY20 billion and the industry suffered total losses of CNY40 billion.
China Southern Airlines said that flights between major cities have resumed and it has flown 1,310 flights each day on average since June, about 70% of the number of flights it operated at the same time last year. The air carrier expects its traffic in the third quarter to further jump to about 76% of last year’s level. The International Air Transport Association (IATA) said China’s carriers posted a 49.9% year-on-year decline in traffic in May, significantly improved from the 64.6% drop recorded in April. However, further improvement has recently been interrupted by flight cancellations to and from Beijing amid an increase in the number of new infections in the city, IATA said.
A number of foreign airlines, including Lufthansa and Air France, have restarted China flights. United Airlines recently announced its schedule for resumed services between San Francisco and Shanghai, with twice-weekly flights starting from July 8. United is the second U.S. carrier after Delta Air Lines to resume flights between Seattle and Shanghai in the period from June 25 to October 24. The U.S. and China will allow four weekly flights between the two countries. Xiamen Airlines said that it is applying to open more routes and increase frequencies to the U.S. in August. It aims to fly from Fuzhou to New York three times per week, and from Xiamen to Los Angeles with a stopover at Qingdao three times per week. It also hopes to increase the frequency of flights, as it currently operates just one weekly flight from Xiamen to Los Angeles, the Global Times reports.
Chinese carriers are adopting various innovative measures to increase their revenue and stay afloat. Shanghai-based China Eastern Airlines is planning to sell boxed food at chain supermarket G-Super in Shanghai from this month. It will be the first time that an air-catering firm is selling food at supermarkets in China. All the products have been improved from the regular in-flight meals. Eastern Air Catering, the in-air food supplier of China Eastern, received the food production license in April, and became the first company that can both produce in-flight meals and food for general consumers nationwide. As the number of flights was reduced, the pandemic also affected the business of air-catering firms.
On June 18, China Eastern launched its weekend-unlimited flight passes in the domestic market. Passengers with the flight pass, which cost CNY3,322, can take flights from China Eastern Airlines and Shanghai Airlines to a Chinese mainland city with no fixed times on weekends before the end of this year. It is the first such pass introduced in China. The hottest three routes were flights from Shanghai to Chengdu, Sichuan province, Shenzhen, Guangdong province, and Xian, Shaanxi province. On several flights from Shanghai to Chengdu, the passenger load factor was higher than 90%, with most of the passengers using the pass.
Additionally, carriers are selling several products such as airplane models, porcelain, handwoven bags and lanterns through live-streaming sessions. Shenzhen Airlines has conducted at least five live-streaming sessions on Fliggy, the online travel agency arm of Alibaba Group. It sold discounted business-class tickets and some derivative products the airline developed by itself, the China Daily reports.
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