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Third time not lucky for Qantas in Beijing
November 15th 2019
Australia-China overcapacity persists. Read More »
Qantas will exit the Sydney-Beijing market in March 2020. It was the carrier’s third attempt at turning a profit on the route. Qantas only flies to China from Sydney. It also serves Sydney-Shanghai. It briefly operated Melbourne-Shanghai until it was axed in a restructuring of the group’s international network following the Global Financial Crisis.
Qantas’s Sydney-Shanghai service benefits from the Chinese city’s large business community as well as its joint venture with Shanghai-headquartered China Eastern Airlines. Qantas International chief executive, Tino La Spina, said Shanghai was “performing well”.
Air China was Qantas’s only nonstop competitor to Beijing, but a flood of secondary Chinese city capacity reduced connecting opportunities. Beijing slot constraints meant Qantas had to depart late at night, arriving in Sydney in the afternoon. Most Qantas flights arrive from Asia in the morning. Qantas relaunched Sydney-Beijing for the third time in 2017.
