China’s airlines are gaining market share on international routes, industry data shows, as foreign rivals are deterred by weak China travel demand and rising costs and extended flight times because of the need to avoid Russian airspace.
Foreign airlines, led by Western carriers such as British Airways and Australia’s Qantas Airways, are pulling services or opting not to restart flights to China after the pandemic, whereas China’s airlines are expanding overseas operations.
The proportion of international flights to and from China operated by the country’s carriers is higher than before COVID-19 grounded much of global aviation and continues to rise.
British Airways said on Thursday it would halt flights from London to Beijing for a year from late October for commercial reasons and last month suspended one of its twice daily London-Hong Kong flights for the same period.
Since the outbreak of war in Ukraine in 2022, China’s airlines have continued to take shorter northern routes to Europe and North America over Russia’s vast airspace.
In contrast, airlines in Europe, the U.S. and other countries have been banned from Russian airspace by Moscow or
their own governments or choose not to overfly out of safety concerns.
That has expanded the cost advantage held by China’s airlines and allowed them to take a larger share in the international market at a time when fierce competition on domestic routes has put pressure on ticket prices and profitability.
“Typically Chinese carriers have anything up to 30% lower costs than their international rivals,” said John Grant, senior analyst at travel data firm OAG. “China’s airlines are desperate for hard currencies and have embarked on a wide-ranging expansion.”
British Airways’ four days a week Beijing-London flight takes around 2-1/2 hours longer than China Southern’s daily flight on the same route it launched last year, according to flight tracker Flightradar24.
British Airways will continue daily London-Shanghai flights and in May relaunched a codeshare with China Southern.
Virgin Atlantic said last month it would drop its London-Shanghai service indefinitely from the end of October due to longer flight times.
British Airways and Virgin Atlantic will be able to use the valuable London Heathrow takeoff and landing slots for other routes that may be more profitable.
Qantas cited half-empty planes and low demand for China travel when it suspended Sydney-Shanghai flights in July, while Asian carrier Royal Brunei Airlines pointed to “market conditions” as the reason for suspending twice-weekly Beijing flights from October.
With Reuters inputs
