"After Japan, Now China"... Airlines Increasing Flights

Korean Air, Asiana Airlines Resume China Routes
"Booking Rates Still Low... Need for Zero-COVID Policy Easing"

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Yoo Hyun-seok] Airlines are approaching normalization of international flights as they expand routes to China following Japan. Since China routes accounted for a significant portion of airline revenues, the recovery in performance is expected to accelerate. However, as China’s quarantine measures have not yet been relaxed, air passenger demand is not expected to increase rapidly in the immediate future.

On the 12th, Korean Air announced it will resume operations on major China routes due to the expansion of Korea-China flights. The Shanghai route will operate from the 20th, the Nanjing route will resume from December 7, and the Qingdao route is scheduled to operate from December 11.

Along with Korean Air, other airlines are also increasing flights on China routes. Asiana Airlines increased the Incheon-Changchun route from once a week to twice a week starting October 27, and on the 2nd, it announced the resumption of the Hangzhou route and the Shenzhen route from the 29th. The Hangzhou and Shenzhen routes are being resumed for the first time in 2 years and 7 months since March 2020.

Jeju Air will resume the Harbin route once a week from the 18th and has also resumed the Yanji route after 2 years and 9 months. T’way Air plans to resume the Shenyang route starting next month. Additionally, Chinese airline Hainan Airlines launched a new route to Dalian from the 5th.

China routes are one of the major revenue sources for airlines alongside Japan. The number of tourists entering Korea from China reached 8,067,000 in 2016 but declined due to the impact of the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system in 2016, before increasing again to 6,023,000 in 2019, prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. Travelers from Korea to China also reached 4,194,000 in 2018.

The airline industry expects a Japan-like effect through the recovery of China routes. In Japan’s case, quarantine exemptions began in May, and visa-free entry was allowed from October, leading to an explosive increase in Japanese travelers. Incheon International Airport saw daily passenger numbers exceed 90,000 on the 7th due to the resumption of visa-free tourism to Japan and Taiwan. This was the first time daily passengers exceeded 90,000 since February 24, 2020.

However, the industry expects that the current increase in flights will not immediately translate into increased air passenger demand. Recently, China announced it would shorten the quarantine period for overseas arrivals by 2 days, reducing total quarantine to 8 days. Still, the quarantine period remains long, so it is expected to have little effect on the recovery of air travel demand. Previously, arrivals had to quarantine for a total of 10 days?7 days in facilities and 3 days at home. An airline official said, "Reservation rates have not increased significantly yet," adding, "Since China is maintaining its zero-COVID policy, demand is expected mainly from expatriates or business travelers rather than tourists."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.