Cuba is a strategically important destination for the Chinese government as it was the first Latin American country to recognise the People’s Republic of China and to establish trade relations and China is currently Cuba’s second largest trading partner after Venezuela with bilateral trade of bilateral of over $1.3 billion in 2014.
The introduction of a scheduled link from Manchester to China has been under discussion for a long time and there has been increased speculation over the past couple of years that an agreement is imminent. There was a suggestion that a route would have been launched this year, but issues with the crewing of its Airbus A330 fleet is understood to have delayed a final deal being agreed with Hainan Airlines.
Under the alliance Air New Zealand will continue to operate daily between Auckland and Shanghai, while Air China will operate this new service between Auckland and Beijing from December 10, 2015, bossting air capacity between Auckland and Mainland China by more than 25 per cent year round.
In an interview with the Chinese media following the arrival of the A330 in China, Xu Xin, chief executive officer, Beijing Capital Airlines said that over the next five years the carrier intends to purchase at least 30 widebody aircraft to open more international routes between Chinese cities and major overseas tourist destinations.
The new flights are operating twice weekly on Fridays and Mondays, between July 3, 2015 and August 28, 2015 and will carry almost 4,000 Chinese tourists into the UK on package tours and will contribute a forecasted £19 million to the regional economy. The flights will be operated by a 223-seat Boeing 767-300 configured with 32 Business Class and 191 Economy seats.
Every month Routesonline provides an update on the current schedules of five latest aircraft programmes, highlighting the routes the types are being deployed upon.
Air China and Air Canada signed a memorandum of understanding in November 2014 setting out the principles for an integrated revenue sharing joint venture. The MoU provides for an enhanced partnership on routes between China and Canada which is expected to stimulate traffic growth between the two countries.
Every month Routesonline provides an update on the current schedules of five latest aircraft programmes, highlighting the routes the types are being deployed upon.
The carrier will be the first airline in the world to operate the A350 on scheduled services to China, as Shanghai will be served daily by the next-generation Airbus aircraft from October 25, 2015. Beijing will follow with daily A350 services to commence from November 21, 2015.
China Southern has previously revealed its intent to serve the European market with the 506-seat airliner but has faced opposition flying the jet out of Beijing due to regulatory procedures that prevent China’s big three state-owned carriers from competing with one another directly.
With nearly 80 per cent of the Chinese population and economy within a range circle of about 2,000 km across Central and Eastern regions, congestion will remain a major talking point in China and an issue that will not be easily resolved. Meanwhile, domestic air travel will remain very important for China’s aviation development.
Hungary is a fast growing tourism market for China, with last year showing a 19 per cent increase of Chinese visitors travelling to Budapest. In fact, estimates suggest a Chinese diaspora of over 40,000 in Hungary and demand or around 90,000 bi-directional passengers per annum.
Finnair has yet to confirm its proposed operational plans for the aircraft but will use the aircraft on its busiest Asian routes from its Helsinki hub and will initially deploy the aircraft to Shanghai, before later deploying it to Bangkok and Beijing in 2015 and Hong Kong and Singapore from 2016.
The new flights, which will operate twice weekly on Fridays and Mondays, between July 3, 2015 and August 28, 2015, will carry almost 4,000 Chinese tourists into the UK on package tours and will contribute a forecasted £19 million to the regional economy.
In a recent interview, Garuda Indonesia's CEO, Arif Wibowo, outlined Chengdu, Chongqing, Harbin, Nanjing, Ningbo, Shenyang, Taiyuan, Wuhan, Xian and Zhengzhou as possible future markets for the carrier. The Indonesia – China market is highly competitive one with four other airlines – all Chinese operators - flying between the two countries alongside Garuda.
Over a twelve-month period, preliminary data shows a growth rate of 5.1 percent year over year, with both international and domestic traffic posting strong growth rates of 5.8 percent and 4.5 percent respectively.
American has confirmed the type will initially will be deployed between its hubs at Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport and Chicago O'Hare International Airport from May 7, 2015. The aircraft will substitute for other equipment on the domestic sector which is served more than 100 times a week, mainly using McDonnell Douglas MD-80 equipment
Apple Computer may soon get better flights to sell more iPhones in a China after Hainan Airlines filed an application for an exemption and ammended foreign air carrier permit with the US Department of Transportation to serve San Jose, California, which elicited wide smiles from San Jose International Airport's Olgierd Hinz at Routes Americas in Denver.
American Airlines will introduce a daily flight on the route from May 7, 2015; its sixth daily flight to Asia from Dallas and its eleventh direct service between the US and Asia. According to MIDT data, an estimated 21,000 bi-directional O&D passengers a year fly between Dallas and Beijing, despite there being no direct flights between the two cities.
Under the revised air services agreement, both countries’ carriers will immediately be able to operate 26,500 seats a week between Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou to the major gateway cities of Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Perth – an increase of 18 percent on the routes.
