Chinese airlines mull more overseas routes in coming winter, spring seasons

Chinese airlines are mulling more overseas routes in the coming winter and spring flight plans that start on Sunday, adding new routes and increasing flights to meet the market's needs.

Beijing Daxing International Airport said on Thursday that the airlines operating from there will have more overseas routes. For example, on Monday, Saudi Arabian Airlines will add a new route from Daxing to Dammam, Saudi Arabia, and Singapore Airlines will implement a route from Daxing to Singapore from November 11, with one round trip per day; 

China Southern Airlines will launch flights from Daxing to Sydney and Melbourne in December, and Royal Air Maroc plans to resume the Daxing-Casablanca route in January 2025, with three flights per week.

During the winter and spring flight seasons lasting till March 29, 2025, the average daily number of scheduled flights will be 978, including 72 overseas flights, according to the Daxing airport.

China Eastern Airlines said it will further launch and resume international flights, including new Wuhan-Osaka and Qingdao-Fukuoka routes. The expanded overseas routes mainly link Shanghai Pudong to Heathrow, Sydney and Melbourne.

China Eastern's current flight volume to regions including Europe, Oceania, the Middle East and Southeast Asia have exceeded the level of the same period in 2019.

China Eastern said that the group will have an average of 1,373 overseas flights planned per week, up 24.68 percent compared with the same period of 2023, and standing at 102 percent of the same period in 2019.

Chinese experts attributed the expansion of overseas routes to rising demand, partly driven by the 144-hour visa-free transit policy, which is seen as a crucial step in attracting a growing number of international visitors to China.

Data from the National Immigration Administration showed that there were 160 million inbound and outbound trips in the first three quarters of this year, up 30.1 percent year-on-year, including 16.46 million foreign individuals.

Starting from this month, Cathay Pacific launched a new in-flight experience for its retrofitted Boeing 777-300ER aircraft. This new cabin has been designed with an all-new business class named Aria Suite, a new premium economy and a refreshed economy class cabin.

Vivian Lo, general manager of customer experience and design at Cathay Pacific Airways, said that the new business class will be first deployed to the Chinese mainland destinations of Beijing and Shanghai.