Air New Zealand to Focus Chinese Network on Shanghai

Air New Zealand has completed a review of its Chinese network and has determined that its activities in the country would be better managed by consolidating on a single destination and as such it will suspend its flights to Beijing and boost capacity to Shanghai from July.

The airline currently offers two flights per week between Auckland and Beijing and four a week between Auckland and Shanghai. It confirms that the route to the Chinese capital will close from July 1, 2012 with the last passenger services planned for June 30, 2012, although links to Beijing will be maintained through a one-stop offering under a codeshare with its Star Alliance partner Air China.

The Shanghai route will see the introduction of a fifth weekly frequency from July 4, 2012 rather than October 28, 2012 as had been previously planned and the airline confirms that a daily schedule should be in place within the coming 12 months as it focuses it efforts on building the city as the main gateway between New Zealand and China.

“Air New Zealand has been operating to mainland China for more than five years and is highly committed to the potential of the market long term,” said Christopher Luxon, General Manager International Airline, Air New Zealand Group. “We’re confident of the potential for long term growth from one of China’s most modern and populous cities. We will focus our marketing and sales resources on the Shanghai region of around 14 million people as we seek to provide customers a daily service to and from this important gateway in China.”

Air New Zealand launched flights between Auckland and Shanghai in November 2006 and added Beijing to its network from July 2008. The only other direct link from New Zealand to mainland China is the recently introduced route between Auckland and Guangzhou which was launched by China Southern Airlines in April 2011.

The table below highlights the growing demand for air travel between China and New Zealand, facilitated by the expansion in flights between the two countries over the past five years. It also shows the importance of the Shanghai route to the Air New Zealand operation, an O&D market that has grown 64.5 per cent since the airline introduced the route. Interestingly the Beijing route has only seen a 39.5 per cent O&D capacity since that was launched two years later.

With the exception of 2009, the New Zealand – China market has seen positive growth for the last five years with O&D traffic up 81.6 per cent during this period. In the last year a massive 27.6 per cent increase was recorded thanks to the amazing success of the new China Southern Airlines route between Auckland and Guangzhou. The service, now operated on a daily basis, has significantly stimulated an already expanding market. In 2010, ahead of China Southern’s arrival, O&D traffic grew 75.5 per cent between the two cities after three years of declines. However, in 2011, traffic more than trebled, rising a massive 266.4 per cent following the launch of direct flights that April.