Qantas has suspended its route to Shanghai as part of multiple changes to its Asia network, in what is another sign of the slow rebound in the China international market.
The Australian flag-carrier plans to halt its Sydney-Shanghai service on July 28. Qantas had previously suspended this route during the pandemic, but reinstated it in October 2023. This is its only flight to mainland China, although it does operate service to Hong Kong.
“Since COVID, the demand for travel between Australia and China has not recovered as strongly as expected … in some months, our flights to and from Shanghai have been operating around half full,” said Cam Wallace, head of the Qantas international operation.
The carrier said it will “continue to monitor the Australia-China market closely and will look to return to Shanghai when demand has recovered.” In the meantime, the airline intends to switch capacity from this route to other Asia-Pacific markets with stronger demand.
Many other carriers have also reported a slower-than-expected recovery on their China routes since border restrictions were lifted. Overall international capacity in the China market is at 71% of 2019 levels for the week of May 13, according to data from CAPA – Centre for Aviation and OAG Schedules Analyser.
Competition is probably also a factor. There are currently nine carriers based in mainland China that are serving Australia, CAPA data shows.
China Eastern is the only other airline with a Sydney-Shanghai service, and it accounts for a 68% share of weekly seats on this route. Qantas and China Eastern previously had a partnership on Australia-China services, but in November 2023 Australian regulators rejected their application to extend the joint venture relationship.
In other changes announced by Qantas, the airline will begin a route between Brisbane and Manila, Philippines, on Oct. 28. It will start at four times per week using Airbus A330s.
The carrier last served the Brisbane-Manila route more than 10 years ago. Qantas already operates flights to Manila from Sydney.
Qantas plans to boost its Sydney-Singapore flights to 17 per week from Dec. 11, an increase of three per week. Brisbane-Singapore flights will increase from seven to nine per week from Oct. 27.
Frequency on the service connecting Sydney with Bengaluru, India, will rise from five to seven per week between mid-December and late March.
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