Sichuan Airlines Adds Madrid As Chinese Carriers Gain Ground In Europe

Sichuan Airlines has expanded its European operations, further strengthening the dominance of Chinese airlines on China-Europe routes.

The airline plans to launch nonstop flights between Chengdu Tianfu International Airport (TFU) and Madrid Adolfo Suárez-Barajas Airport (MAD), establishing the only nonstop connection between the two cities. Service is set to begin on April 27, operating four times per week.

According to OAG Schedules Analyser data, Sichuan Airlines currently serves four destinations on the Europe continent, flying from TFU to Istanbul, Moscow Sheremetyevo, Rome Fiumicino and St Petersburg. Athens has also been mooted as a potential destination in the future.

The planned launch of the 5,723-mi. (4,973-nm) route to Madrid will make it the ninth city accessible nonstop from Chengdu. In addition to Sichuan Airlines' existing four routes, Air China operates flights from TFU to Frankfurt, London Heathrow and Milan Malpensa, while Hainan Airlines connects the airport to Vienna.

Chengdu will become the seventh city in mainland China with a direct flight from the Spanish capital. At present, Air China serves MAD from Beijing Capital; Beijing Capital Airlines from Hangzhou; China Eastern Airlines from Shanghai Pudong and Wenzhou; and Hainan Airlines from Chongqing and Shenzhen.

Figures provided by Sabre Market Intelligence show that Madrid-Chengdu ranked as the 10th largest Madrid-China city pair in 2024, with approximately 5,300 two-way O&D passengers. Meanwhile, Chengdu-Madrid was the sixth largest Chengdu-Europe city pair last year.

The expansion of Sichuan Airlines’ European network follows a broader trend of Chinese carriers increasing their footprint across Europe while their European counterparts reduce services to China. Over the past 12 months, multiple new routes have been launched by Chinese airlines, taking advantage of their ability to fly over Russian airspace that gives them a significant cost advantage over European rivals.

While Chinese carriers continue to expand aggressively, European airlines have been cutting back on their China operations, citing rising costs and reduced demand. Lufthansa and British Airways have each dropped routes to China in 2024, while Scandinavian Airlines and Virgin Atlantic have withdrawn entirely.

Moscow’s ban on European carriers from using Russian airspace has added several hours of flying time to routes between China and Europe, increasing fuel costs and operational complexity. Meanwhile, Chinese airlines remain unaffected by these restrictions and are leveraging the shorter, more efficient routes to offer more competitive fares.

China Southern Airlines has introduced flights from Guangzhou to Budapest and Belgrade, Juneyao Airlines has expanded with services from Shanghai Pudong to Manchester, Athens, and Brussels, while Air China has added a Chengdu-Milan connection. Additionally, China Eastern Airlines has launched flights from Shanghai Pudong to Venice and from Xi’an to Milan, and Hainan Airlines has opened routes to Milan, Budapest, and Vienna. Hainan is also set to resume service between Beijing Capital and Oslo in 2025.

Analysis of OAG data indicates that the upcoming northern summer 2025 season will see approximately 10 million two-way seats between mainland China and Europe, excluding Russia, representing a 4.2% increase compared to summer 2024.

Despite the overall growth in capacity, European airlines’ market share continues to decline. While they accounted for 22.8% of total capacity last summer, their share is projected to drop to around 18% this year. This is a sharp contrast to summer 2019, when European carriers held 41% of the market, before the pandemic and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine reshaped air travel dynamics.