Summary
- Southeast Asia’s aviation recovery has been slow resulting from lack of demand from China, but now Chinese carriers, like China Eastern, are increasing capability and opening recent international routes within the region.
- China Eastern is specializing in Southeast Asian island destinations to satisfy travel demand and expects more passengers from Southeast Asia to travel to or transit through China throughout the festival period.
- China Eastern has launched recent routes to Kuala Lumpur and Cairns, and can add 15 more international routes, including a brand new path to Perth, Australia. The airline also plans to operate over 2,300 round-trip flights between domestic airports and destinations in Southeast Asia throughout the Spring Festival holiday.
As global aviation steadily recovered during 2023, one region specifically was falling behind, Southeast Asia, which spent most of last yr operating at around 20% less capability than it had in pre-pandemic 2019. The first reason for that was the dearth of demand from China which was still within the grip of a number of the world’s most severe COVID-19 lockdowns and all but closed to international travel.
China Eastern pushing strongly into Southeast Asia
That ice began to thaw within the second half of the yr, and now, with borders open and group travel reinstated, the key Chinese carriers, resembling China Eastern Airlines, are ramping up capability across Asia-Pacific, and the consequences of which can be starting to point out in Southeast Asia traffic numbers.
Photo: Markus Mainka | Shutterstock
International travel out and in of China can be having fun with all of the positive effects and holiday traffic flowing from the Lunar Latest Yr holiday season, encouraging airlines so as to add recent services and routes to satisfy the consistently high demand within the region.
This week, China Eastern Airlines (China Eastern) announced it was stepping up its efforts to open and resume international routes to satisfy increased demand throughout the 2024 Spring Festival travel rush. The routes being added will positively impact the recovery of Southeast Asian markets and probably push the region to full COVID-19 recovery within the early a part of this yr.
Photo: Vincenzo Pace | Easy Flying
China Eastern has singled out more investment in Southeast Asian island destinations to satisfy travel demand. With more flights to Southeast Asia, more passengers from Southeast Asian countries are expected to travel to or transit through China throughout the festival period.
Recently, it launched the Beijing Daxing – Kuala Lumpur route and resumed the Shanghai Pudong-Cairns, Australia route. It is going to also add 15 recent international routes, including a brand new Pudong-Perth route, and increase flight frequencies between Pudong and Sydney, Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur and Male routes.
More flights to major Southeast Asia hubs
Through the Spring Festival travel rush, CEA will increase its investment in Southeast Asian island destinations to satisfy travel demand. While the main focus has been on Southeast Asian airlines falling behind, it’s also clear that Chinese carriers, like China Eastern, are well aware of what they’ve missed out on and the vast inbound and outbound markets which can be going begging in prime markets resembling Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia and the Philippines.
By adding more flights to Southeast Asia, China Eastern believes more passengers from Southeast Asia will travel to or transit through China throughout the festival period. Australia has seen the return of all the key Chinese carriers that operated routes across the country, with Melbourne, Sydney, and Brisbane Airports all seeing stunning jumps in capability not only from China Eastern but in addition from China Southern, Air China, Sichuan Airlines, Xiamen Airlines, Hainan, and Beijing Capital.
Photo: Brisbane Airport
Recently, China Eastern launched the Beijing Daxing International (PKK) – Kuala Lumpur route and resumed the service between Shanghai Pudong (PVG) and Australia’s northern Queensland gateway of Cairns. The airline can be adding 15 recent international routes, including a brand new Shanghai Pudong – Perth Airport (PER) in Western Australia and more flight frequencies between Shanghai and Sydney, Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur and Male (Maldives) routes.
Through the 40 days of the Spring Festival holiday, China Eastern plans to operate 2,322 round-trip flights between domestic airports and Singapore, Kuala Lumpur and Bangkok. China Eastern currently operates 4 routes to Malaysia: Shanghai – Kuala Lumpur, Shanghai – Sabah, Hangzhou – Kuala Lumpur and Beijing Daxing – Kuala Lumpur. Through the Spring Festival rush, the airline has scheduled 340 round trips for these 4 routes.
China Eastern can be opening recent nonstop routes to Kuala Lumpur from the Chinese cities of Kunming, Xi’an, and Chengdu, with more to follow. In Singapore, it operates eight routes, including Shanghai, Beijing, Nanjing, Hangzhou and Kunming, and from Bangkok it flies to 10 destinations in China, including Shanghai, Kunming, Guangzhou, Chengdu and Xi’an.
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