Foreign airlines exit China as domestic rivals expand abroad
STORY: Chinese airlines are gaining market share on international flights, according to industry data.
That’s as foreign rivals give up on serving the country, deterred by weak demand and rising costs.
As well as extended flight times due to the need to avoid Russian airspace.
Western carriers like British Airways and Qantas are pulling services from China, or opting not to restart flights.
British Airways said Thursday (August 8) it would halt flights from London to Beijing for a year, citing commercial reasons.
Last month it suspended one of its twice daily London-Hong Kong flights for the same period.
And Qantas cited half-empty planes and low demand for China travel when it suspended Sydney-Shanghai flights in July.
Since the outbreak of war in Ukraine in 2022, Chinese carriers 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 avoided flying over the country.
That’s either because they’ve been banned from the area by Moscow or their own governments, or have chosen not to overfly out of safety concerns.
That’s expanded the cost advantage held by Chinese airlines and allowed them to take a larger share in the international market.
One analyst told Reuters the country’s carriers enjoy cost savings of 30% compared with western rivals.
All that left China with nearly a quarter less flights abroad in July, compared with the same month before the pandemic.
But local carriers like China Eastern are operating 90% of their international flights, indicating it’s overseas airlines that have retreated.
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