China Eastern Airlines' planes are on the tarmac at Yantai Penglai International Airport in Shandong province in January. (Photo by Tang Ke/For China Daily)
With a sharp decline in the demand of international air travel market, the domestic market has excess capacity and oversupply of aircraft, especially wide-body planes that used to serve long-haul international flights. Domestic carriers should seek new demand to boost growth, industry experts observed.
On June 18, China Eastern became the first domestic carrier to launch its weekend-unlimited flight pass in China. Passengers with the pass, which costs 3,322 yuan ($506), can take flights to a Chinese mainland city with no limited times on weekends before the end of this year. More than 100,000 such passes were sold.
"The move has helped drive domestic economic circulation significantly. The deepening reform and innovative measures of State-owned enterprises have helped smooth circulation and stabilize growth," Shao said.
To build China into an aviation powerhouse, major domestic commercial airlines and cargo companies should further increase their competitiveness, innovation and ability to minimize risk, China Eastern said.
Subsequently, several Chinese carriers, including China Southern Airlines, Hainan Airlines, Shandong Airlines, Xiamen Airlines and Spring Airlines, introduced various unlimited flight passes on domestic routes, and saw brisk sales of their travel products.
For instance, Shandong Airlines has attracted more than 100,000 new customers to its unlimited passes. Without flights, airlines would be unable to generate any marginal revenues, and certain grounding and maintenance costs would make the financial situation acute, the carrier said.
Qi Qi, an associate professor at Guangzhou Civil Aviation College, said domestic carriers should actively respond to the country's dual-circulation strategy to achieve further growth and steer clear of risks.
"Domestic carriers should speed up the formation of a new development pattern in the air travel market, where the domestic major cycle serves as the main body, and airlines should further revitalize resources of small and medium-sized airports," Qi said.
"For the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, it is one of the areas that has the biggest advantages to achieve better domestic circulation, as the area boasts certain advantages to introduce more innovative and digitalized products, launch more flights, and establish world-class civil aviation infrastructure," he said.
