Qantas Airways, Australia’s largest airline, is seeing early signs of recovery in China’s air freight business, accoding to CEO Alan Joyce.
Last November the airline said it would increase its daily China Eastern Airlines code-share flights between Shanghai and Chengdu and Xi’an as part of its network expansion plan in the country.
The company currently operates 10 weekly flights between Australia and China, seven to Shanghai and three to Beijing.
Qantas also operates flights from Hong Kong to the Mainland, and 31 round-trip flights a week between Hong Kong and Brisbane, Melbourne, Perth and Sydney. The illustration comes from the immensely successful Qantas television advertising campaign showing here the Great Wall of China.
China Newswires reports that several Chinese airlines, including Air China, the country’s second-largest commercial airline, and China Eastern Airlines, the country’s third-largest carrier, reported net profits in the first quarter of this year. Air China earlier said the company expects to turn to a profit this year.