Chengdu: A Market in Growth

Earlier this week it was revealed that Chengdu Shuangliu International Airport Company (IATA: CTU; ICAO: ZUUU) in China would be the host of the 10th Routes Asia event next April. The airport has witnessed rapid growth over the past decade and is now the largest air hub and passenger and cargo distribution centre in the central western region of China. Last year it handled 25.8 million passengers, making it the sixth busiest airport in China and it is currently working on the construction of a new passenger terminal (T2) due to open in early 2012, to further boost capacity.

The HUB provides an analysis of the current schedules at CTU…

Source: Flightbase (April 14-20, 2011)

Air China is by far the largest operator at CTU, with more than 700 weekly flights to ** destinations, providing almost twice as many seats as its nearest rival Sichuan Airlines. China Eastern Airlines, China Southern Airlines and Chengdu Airlines also have a large presence; the latter being based at the airport and providing links to 15 domestic destinations. The largest international carrier at CTU is Dragonair which offers a double daily link to Hong Kong.

Source: Flightbase (April 14-20, 2011)

The traffic at CTU is dominated by the domestic market with over 90 per cent of flights operating within China. Beijing Capital International and Shenzhen have the most frequencies, although capacity to the capital city is almost double through Air China and China Southern Airlines using widebodies on two of their multiple daily flights.

Source: Flightbase (April 14-20, 2011)

The International market accounts for just 4.5 per cent of the weekly flights from CTU and just 5.1 per cent of the total weekly capacity. The main markets, as would be expected, are the main regional hubs – namely Hong Kong International (served more than four times daily by Air China, Dragonair and 3U), Taipei Taoyuan, Singapore Changi, Bangkok Suvarnabhumi and Kuala Lumpur International. Non-stop overseas flights are also offered at up to four times weekly to Bangalore, Incheon, Karachi, Macau International, Taipei Songshan and Tokyo Narita. The only flight from CTU outside of Asia and the Indian sub-continent is a three times weekly link to Amsterdam Schiphol by KLM Royal Dutch Airlines. Around 15,000 O&D passengers travelled on this route in the year ending January 2011, with almost 90 per cent making use of KLM’s direct service, paying an average fare of $653 from China and $683 from Europe.

Xiaojun Pan, General Manager and Board Chairman, Sichuan Province Group Co Ltd, Chengdu Shuangliu International Airport Company, believes KLM’s move to increase capacity on the Amsterdam – Chengdu route is a clear signal of the strength of the market and the potential for future growth to Europe. “KLM has been operating from Amsterdam with load factors of over 80 per cent. From April it will change aircraft type from a Boeing 777 to a B747 Combi because the flights to Chengdu are doing so well,” he told The HUB. “Chengdu is well located in China to reach Europe, so developing our European air routes is a key focus for us,” he added.

However, Europe is not its only focus and the airport is also looking to boost its domestic and regional network. “We want to be the key gateway western gateway airport in China. To do this we need to build up our network consisting of regional short-haul feeder service and domestic services,” said Xiaojun Pan.

Chengdu’s history stretches back some 2,000 years but is now a major centre for finance, commerce, transportation, communication and science and technology, and the city has won awards as ‘The Best Tourism City of China’. Xiaojun Pan explained that the city is a major powerhouse of economic and financial development in the region.

“In 2009 Chengdu’s GDP ranked 10th among the country’s 19 sub-provincial cities. Its resident population was 13 million in 2009 and its GDP was 450.26 billion yuan. Total imports and exports were $17.86 billion. Chengdu’s IT and electronics industries are quite developed and 141 Fortune 500 companies, including Intel and IBM, Nokia, Microsoft and so on, have invested in factories and offices in Chengdu. There are over 100 global R&D centres. So, Chengdu is the first area to develop in the southwest of China,” he said.

Delegates at Routes Asia 2012 will be able to sample the airport facility and what the region has to offer first hand next April. They will also get the chance to visit the world-famous Giant Panda Breeding Centre, for which Chengdu has become internationally renowned.

A more detailed interview with Xiaojun Pan will appear in the next issue of Routes News, which will also include a full round-up of events at Routes Asia 2011 in Incheon, South Korea and more information on the Routes Asia 2012 forum in Chengdu, China.

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NOTE: Schedule data extracted from Flightbase for week commencing April 14, 2011; Traffic data extracted from IATA BSP system for the year ending January 2011.