News
China Southern stakes out claim at new Beijing Airport
September 18th 2015
Guangzhou-headquartered China Southern Airlines will become one of the main carriers based at the new Beijing International Airport expected to open in late 2018 in Daxing, south of the capital. China Southern said it would base up to 100 aircraft at the airport by 2019, which it planned to increase to 150 by 2025. Read More » The new facility, expected to serve Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei, will be able to handle annual passenger volume of 45 million in 2020, 72 million in 2025 and 100 million in the longer term.
Shenzhen-based Donghai Airlines said it was determined to own a fleet of 120 aircraft by 2025, comprising B787-9s, B737-800s and B737MAXs, to operate domestic and international short- and medium-haul services. The carrier operates 14 aircraft, six B737-300s, five B737-800s and one E135, on domestic services from Shenzhen’s Bao’an Airport to Harbin, Shenyang, Hailar, Kunming, Ningbo, Pudong, Dalian and Haikou.
Flag carrier, Air China, said it would like to boost direct ticket sales from 27% to 50% by 2017, as a part of strategic initiatives to improve its e-commerce platform. As a result of the new policy, Air China would impose significant fines on domestic online travel agents (OTAs) and terminate them if their ticket prices were 2% lower than those sold on the carrier’s own website. Mainland carriers have been promoting direct sales since last year when they cut commissions of OTAs from 3% to zero.
The Mainland’s “Number Four”, HNA Group’s Hainan Airlines, has confirmed the launch of a three times a week Beijing-Prague B767-300 service from September 25, underscoring China’s growing appetite for strategic investments in Eastern Europe, following last week’s announcement that CEFC China Energy Company had acquired 10% of Czech carrier, Travel Service Airlines, which operates 30 A320 and B737NG aircraft on scheduled and chartered operations across Europe. CEFC plans to acquire another 39.92% in the carrier in the near future and wants to develop Prague Airport into a gateway to the region for tourists and investors from China and Asia.
HNA’s Hong Kong offshoot, Hong Kong Airlines, on Monday called off its IPO “indefinitely”, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing the current market turmoil. It is the third time in four years that Hong Kong Airlines has cancelled its planned listing.
In the interim, Australia’s Jetstar Airways will launch twice-weekly Wuhan-Gold Coast B787-8 operations on September 29. The Gold Coast destination on Australia’s east coast, will be Wuhan’s fifth long-haul destination after Paris, Moscow, San Francisco and a just announced three times a week China Southern B787-8 service to Rome from December 16.
