China Eastern is adding more routes and flights to prepare for the high-demand Spring Festival.
China Eastern Airlines
Summary:
- Southeast Asia's aviation industry has been slow to recover due to a lack of domestic demand, but Chinese airlines such as China Eastern are currently increasing capacity and opening new international routes in the region.
- China Eastern Airlines is focusing on Southeast Asian island destinations to meet travel demand, and it is expected that more Southeast Asian passengers will travel to or transit through China during the holiday season.
- China Eastern Airlines has opened new routes to Kuala Lumpur and Cairns, and will add 15 new international routes, including a new Perth route in Australia.
As the global aviation industry steadily recovers in 2023, Southeast Asia is particularly lagging behind, with capacity falling by around 20% for most of last year compared to pre-pandemic times in 2019.
China Eastern Airlines has made strong forays into Southeast Asia
In the second half of the year, the ice began to melt, and now, with borders opening and group travel resuming, major Chinese airlines such as China Eastern are increasing capacity in the Asia-Pacific region, and the impact is starting to be felt in Southeast Asia.
China Eastern Airlines
International travel in and out of China has also been affected by all the positive impact and holiday passenger flows that come with the Lunar New Year holiday, encouraging airlines to add new services and routes to meet the region's continued high demand.
This week, China Eastern Airlines announced that it will step up the opening and resumption of international routes to meet the increased demand during the 2024 Spring Festival. The new routes will have a positive impact on the recovery of the Southeast Asian market and are likely to drive the region's full recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic early this year.
China Eastern Airlines
China Eastern is focusing on increasing investment in island destinations in Southeast Asia to meet travel demand. With the increase in flights to Southeast Asia, it is expected that more travelers from Southeast Asian countries will travel to or transit through China during the holiday season.
Recently, the new Beijing Daxing-Kuala Lumpur route has been opened, and the Shanghai Pudong-Cairns route has been resumed. There will also be 15 new international routes, including the Pudong-Perth route, and additional flights from Pudong to Sydney, Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur and Male.
More flights to key hubs in Southeast Asia
During the Spring Festival travel period, China Eastern Airlines will increase its investment in Southeast Asian island destinations to meet travel needs. While the focus has been on Southeast Asian airlines lagging behind, it's clear that Chinese airlines like China Eastern are well aware of what they're missing out, as well as in places like Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia and the Philippines.
By increasing flights to Southeast Asia, China Eastern believes that more passengers from Southeast Asia will travel to or transit through China during the holiday season. All of Australia's major Chinese airlines operating across the country have returned, and Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane airports have seen impressive capacity growth, not only with China Eastern, but also with China Southern, Air China, Sichuan Airlines, Xiamen Airlines, Hainan Airlines and Beijing Capital Airlines.
China Eastern Airlines
Recently, China Eastern Airlines launched the route between Beijing Daxing International Airport (PKK) and Kuala Lumpur, and resumed flights between Shanghai Pudong Airport (PVG) and Cairns, the northern gateway of Queensland, Australia. The airline has also added 15 new international routes, including the new Shanghai Pudong-Perth Airport (PER) in Western Australia and more flights between Shanghai and Sydney, Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur and Male (Maldives).
During the 40-day Spring Festival holiday, China Eastern Airlines plans to operate 2,322 round-trip flights between domestic airports and Singapore, Kuala Lumpur and Bangkok. China Eastern currently operates four routes to Malaysia: Shanghai-Kuala Lumpur, Shanghai-Sabah, Hangzhou-Kuala Lumpur, and Beijing Daxing-Kuala Lumpur. During the Spring Festival travel period, airlines arranged a total of 340 round-trip flights on these four routes.
China Eastern has also launched new direct flights to Kuala Lumpur from Chinese cities such as Kunming, Xi'an and Chengdu, with more to come. In Singapore, the company operates 8 routes including Shanghai, Beijing, Nanjing, Hangzhou and Kunming, and flies from Bangkok to 10 destinations in China, including Shanghai, Kunming, Guangzhou, Chengdu and Xi'an.
Have you ever taken an international flight with China Eastern Airlines?