Guangzhou Baiyun Airport

New routes to China to flourish in the next few years

China's leading airports are on the cusp of strong international growth, with several new routes to be launched in the coming 12 to 24 months. Growth will be driven by foreign and local needs: countries will have greater needs to further link with China while locally there will be an increasing propensity to travel among the Chinese population as incomes rise, while high-speed rail expansion will push Chinese airlines to grow internationally, at the same time providing feed opportunities for foreign carriers at the main Chinese gateways.

But growth is not only expected at the main Chinese hubs. Second tier airports can also look forward to increasing air services as the Government supports expansion from these hubs and as the LCC revolution takes hold in North Asia. New carriers across the region will be looking for new route opportunities, fuelling rapid growth at non-congested Chinese gateways. China's own second tier airlines are also looking to expand abroad, mainly within the Asia Pacific region, which will spur development at the provincial capitals across China's vast interior and economic zones.

Jetstar Japan plans more aggressive launch than competitor Peach, reflecting Japanese LCC market

The launch schedule of Jetstar Japan, the LCC to commence services on 03-Jul-2012, is more aggressive than the Mar-2012 launch of competitor Peach, reflecting not only a market that will see tremendous and competitive growth in a very short period of time, but also the greater freedom enjoyed by the country's second wave of LCCs like Jetstar Japan.

While Jetstar in its first week will operate up to six daily return flights, one less than Peach launched with, the carrier will quickly ramp up operations, ending its first two months with 14 daily flights, more than the 11 daily flights Peach will have at the end of its first 3.5 months.

Jetstar Japan's launch will see four more of the world's 20 most populous routes have competition from LCCs, leaving only three routes served exclusively by full-service carriers in a reminder of greatly shifting tides. While LCC presence in China is the next objective, so too is domination: the world's most populous route is already controlled by LCCs. 

Asia Pacific airports move up the ranks in 2011, with Beijing this year to overtake Atlanta

The rankings of the world’s busiest airports for 2011 show key developments and lasting changes in global aviation, although the world’s busiest airport by total passenger movements, Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport, continued to hold off Beijing, the world’s second busiest airport, in 2011, according to Airports Council International (ACI). It is, however, expected that Beijing, driven by exponential GDP growth, will overtake Atlanta in 2012, ending the airport's 14-year reign in the top spot.

While Beijing Capital is the dominant airport in China, it is on track to become be the world’s busiest hub by the end of this decade, leaving London and even ambitious Dubai in its wake. And new developments will ensure the city of Beijing has an airport in the top spot: its new airport at Daxing, south of Beijing, could have up to nine runways and ultimate capacity to handle around 370,000 passengers per day, or a staggering 135 million passengers p/a. This would increase capacity at Beijing area airports to around 220 million p/a – almost a quarter of a billion passengers.

Ethiopian selects initial 787 routes; confirms Guangzhou as first long-haul 787 destination

Ethiopian Airlines has decided on its first set of routes for its new Boeing 787 fleet, which will be placed into service in June. The carrier will initially deploy its first 787 on short/medium-haul flights to Dubai and Johannesburg from June before using the type on its first long-haul route, to Guangzhou, from August. Ethiopian, which will be the first airline to operate 787s in the Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) region, also plans to use its first batch of four 787s to serve Harare in Zimbabwe and Lusaka in Zambia.

CAPA initially reported in June that Ethiopian intended to make Guangzhou one of its first 787 destinations. In December, CAPA reported that Guangzhou remained high on its list of potential 787 routes but Ethiopian was also considering using 787s to serve Hong Kong and to open potential new destinations in Asia including Chongqing in China, Kuala Lumpur and Singapore.

Marketing the emergence of China's sixth-freedom hubs

In a move that will tilt the world's aviation axis, Chinese airlines are making bold efforts to target sixth-freedom traffic from their geographically well-positioned hubs that further benefit from very low cost bases. There are challenges including service, distribution and marketing, but on the latter two, China's airlines are making efforts and not standing still.