Air China has revealed that it will launch a four times weekly service between Beijing and London Gatwick from May 2, 2012, confirming a story first produced by Routesonline at the start of last month. The HUB revealed on November 10 that the Chinese flag carrier was intending to expand in the UK during summer 2012 but that it was to serve London Gatwick Airport rather than London Heathrow due to slot restrictions at the main UK international gateway.
Speaking to The HUB at the World Travel Market (WTM) in London last month, Dr Zhihang Chi, Vice President & General Manager North America for Air China confirmed that the revised strategy could potentially allow the airline to offer a mix of products on the route. Air China had been planning to upgrade the Beijing – London Heathrow route to a Boeing 777-300ER during 2012 and such a move would enable it to offer a three-class service on this route and a two-class A330 operation to London Gatwick, he explained.
“We fully intend to expand in the UK and increase our presence here but unfortunately we can’t do it at Heathrow. Our daily Beijing flight to Heathrow has load factors of over 90% - it’s ridiculously full. But adding capacity at Heathrow is out of the question and we have actually been agonising over this issue for a long time,” said Dr Chi.
“We have decided that the best option is to run split operations and to go to Gatwick for additional frequency. This is not necessarily a good thing but we don’t have a choice as we want to expand. Heathrow offers better connection options and we will now have to invest in two sets of staff and equipment,” he added.
Air China is not the first airline to announce plans to follow this option. Korean Air is understood to be planning a three times weekly Seoul Incheon – London Gatwick connection from April next year, complementing its existing Heathrow operation.
Air China will offer four flights per week between Beijing and London Gatwick at the same time expanding its network to 289 routes - 73 international, 14 regional, and 202 domestic - serving a total of 142 cities, including 43 international, 4 regional and 95 domestic, in 30 countries and regions. The airline currently offers over 6,900 flights a week with over 1,100,000 available seats.
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