Chinese airlines are this year on course to collectively carry more than 600 million passengers for the first time, research by Routesonline has found, as growth in the country’s domestic and international market continues to accelerate. The figure is a huge increase from the 440 million carried just five years ago.
SkyTeam partners Air France-KLM and Air Europa are hoping that a planned joint venture agreement on flights between Europe and Central and South America will help to unlock new routes and direct flights between the two continents.
As China prepares to ease its “one route, one airline” policy on long-haul routes, Hainan Airlines and China Southern are gearing up to increase their services from secondary cities to Los Angeles.
Routesonline provides an update on the operations of the Airbus A380. We also reveal the network size of each operator and the top destinations served by the aircraft type.
China Southern Airlines, Shandong Airlines and Jeju Air are the latest carriers to register for the only route development event dedicated to the Asia-Pacific region.
Routesonline looks back at an eventful second half of 2017 which included the 23rd World Routes taking place in Barcelona, the failures of Monarch and Air Berlin, and Airbus' A380 celebrating a decade of commercial flight.
China Southern Airlines, a SkyTeam member partly owned by oneworld’s American Airlines, is seeking to further its partnership with the US carrier to help it increase its presence in the transpacific market.
Global airlines carried 3.8 billion passengers on scheduled services last year, an increase of 7 percent on the previous 12 months, representing an additional 242 million air trips.
Under the new Air Service Agreement passenger flights can now increase from the current maximum of 40 per week for each nation to up to 100. There will be no limit on the number of all-cargo services, creating new opportunities for trade and businesses. A restriction on the number of destinations that airlines can serve has also been lifted, meaning services can be operated between any point in the UK and any point in China. Up until now, airlines could only serve six destinations in each country.
As World Routes returns to mainland China, Routesonline is providing a snapshot on the leading international airlines and international airports and most used aircraft types on international flights from the country and highlights the country's top performers during the first half of 2016.
China Southern announced in August that it would commence a three times weekly link between Guangzhou and Christchurch from December 15, 2015 operated using a Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner. This was originally displaying just for the winter schedule, but last month reservations were opened for the route to continue through the summer 2016 schedule.
Under the alliance Air New Zealand will continue to operate daily between Auckland and Shanghai, while Air China will operate this new service between Auckland and Beijing from December 10, 2015, bossting air capacity between Auckland and Mainland China by more than 25 per cent year round.
According to Andrew Harrison, London Stansted Airport’s managing director, the new route will give the UK and businesses in the eastern region in particular, new direct access to Chinese markets and its launch represents the culmination of several years of working with the airline and their partners to deliver the new service.
China Southern has previously revealed its intent to serve the European market with the 506-seat airliner but has faced opposition flying the jet out of Beijing due to regulatory procedures that prevent China’s big three state-owned carriers from competing with one another directly.
Every month Routesonline provides an update on the current schedules of five latest aircraft programmes, highlighting the routes the types are being deployed upon.
