Air China will increase its flight frequencies from Beijing on four domestic routes. The Beijing-based carrier will operate 24 daily flights to Shanghai, 24 flights to Hangzhou, 18 flights to Shenzhen and 16 flights to Guangzhou.Zhang Chunzhi, manager of marketing department, said, "The move is to boost Air China’s competitiveness in east and south China areas."
Domestic carriers are concentrating on Mainland markets where demand has recovered faster than international routes, thanks to the government’s hefty stimulus packages.
According to the Civil Aviation Administration of China, in the first nine months of this year, Chinese carriers flew 159 million passengers on domestic routes, rising 22.6% from a year earlier, compared with an 8.5% decline on international routes.
Shanghai Daily said Air China in April launched express flights linking Beijing with Chengdu and Chongqing, and its load factor on the two routes gained 7% and 5% respectively from a year earlier during May to August.
China Eastern Airlines, the country’s third-largest carrier, said earlier that it plans to boost its frequency on 22 routes from Shanghai after its merger with Shanghai Airlines. It will raise the frequency between Shanghai and Beijing to one flight every half hour.