Qingdao Airport

China continues low altitude airspace trial for general aviation

The CAAC Air Traffic Management Bureau announced they plan to continue to expand a trial that will roll back more restrictions on low-altitude airspace use for general aviation flights. The extending low-altitude airspace trial will open airspace between 1000 m and 400 m around northeast, central and south China. Six pilot cities – Tangshan, Xi'an, Qingdao, Hangzhou, Ningbo and Kunming – will be involved.

The area of low-altitude airspace to be opened in this latest is a series of ongoing developments accounts for almost 32% percent of China's total surface area. The airspace will be opened up during 2012.

Under the trial programme, low airspace is to be divided into three categories: areas under direct control of air traffic controllers, areas under surveillance by authorities and areas where aircraft can fly freely, provided a flight plan has been filed in advance.

Shandong Airlines to double fleet, seeks to become "influential international airline"

Shandong Airlines, China’s ninth largest domestic carrier, reported double-digit profit and revenue growth in the six months ended 30-Jun-2011 (1H2011). The carrier, a subsidiary of Air China, has benefited from the sustained growth of China’s domestic economy and the continued expansion of the country's regional/domestic air transport market. It has ambitious growth plans, including an expansion of its international services.

European airlines ramp-up capacity to China

Asia Pacific, particularly China, is one of the current destination hotspots for European carriers, with connections between Europe and China improving in recent months and over the past couple of years. The initial focus was obviously on providing connectivity between key European hubs and the capital city of Beijing, with services to Shanghai also quite extensive, although a number of carriers are adding service to secondary, albeit still large destinations in China, such as Chengdu, Guangzhou, Hangzhou, Nanjing, Chongqin, Urumqi, Sancha, Dalian and Harbin.

Chinese airline consolidation: Second tier airlines in the sights of the 'Big Four'

China’s fragmented airline industry is undergoing a shakeup. Merger and acquisition activity is intense – probably more so than any other aviation market in the world. In the space of a few short years, the majority of China’s second tier airlines have, at least partially, become owned or controlled by one of the "Big Three" carriers and/or HNA Group, as consolidation accelerates in China. In this report, CAPA reviews what’s fuelling the feeding frenzy and who the targets are.

Consolidation and high-speed rail squeezing out China’s second-tier carriers?

China’s second-tier carriers are hard at work at present, rapidly expanding their domestic and (in some cases) international route networks. However, the vast majority of these airlines are now doing so under the control of the "Big Three" carriers and/or HNA Group, as consolidation accelerates in China. As such, China’s airline evolution is at a very interesting stage. Where previously the major airlines: 1) established considerable branch carrier networks to serve diverse geographic areas in China; and 2) eliminated brands of the acquired airlines, they now appear to be looking more strategically at segmenting the market, retaining the second-tier carrier brands, particularly those focused on tourism/leisure markets.

Chinese airport traffic growth defies global trends in Oct-2009, with profitability to boot

Airports in China have been defying the weakness experienced by most of their global counterparts, as they benefit from the strong recovery of Chinese domestic travel demand, driven partly by government stimulus measures.