Hangzhou 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.

Hangzhou, China’s ninth largest airport, targeting 52 million pax by 2015

China Hangzhou Xiaoshan Airport, China’s ninth largest airport by passenger numbers, is preparing for strong growth as it capitalises on its prominent position in the Yangtze River Delta Economic Zone. The airport is progressing on its wide-ranging expansion efforts that will see the opening of a third terminal in the last quarter of 2012, providing a much-needed capacity boost at the airport.

The airport has ambitious plans to triple annual passenger levels from 17.5 million in 2011 to 52 million by 2015, while cargo volumes are also expected to triple, to 1.0 million tonnes. To put this in perspective, the nation’s second largest airport in 2011, Guangzhou Baiyuan, handled only 45 million passengers in the year. In terms of cargo, the nation’s two largest cargo airports in 2011, Shanghai Pudong and Guangzhou handled 3.1 million and 1.2 million tonnes of cargo respectively in 2011. 

Beijing to overtake London as world’s largest aviation hub. Massive new airport planned

Congested Beijing is building fresh airport capacity that will see it become the world's largest aviation hub, leaving London - currently the world's busiest system of airports - and even ambitious Dubai in its wake. Beijing's new airport at Daxing south of the city 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.

Jetstar's new North Asia focus leaves room for Qantas Singapore expansion to Europe and India

Jetstar is planning to expand its Singapore-based fleet by 50% over the next six months as the low-cost carrier group looks to North Asia for the next phase of its dramatic expansion. As the largest low-cost airline group in the Asia-Pacific region continues to expand at a rate of about 20% per annum, additional capacity will not be directed west towards South Asia, the Middle East or Europe but primarily to North Asia, where Jetstar sees the most opportunities given North Asia’s very low LCC penetration rate. This strategy could signal growth for the Qantas brand in South Asia and Europe as the group looks at potentially announcing next month the launch of a new Singapore-based full-service carrier.