China Southern rides BRI to soar higher

China Southern Airlines, the Guangzhou-based State-owned carrier, said it will launch flights to new international destinations and resume more routes by utilizing the opportunities from the Belt and Road Initiative, which is celebrating its 10th anniversary this year.

The company said it will either launch or resume routes that connect Guangzhou, Guangdong province and Zhengzhou, Henan province, with Luxembourg; Guangzhou with Brisbane, Australia; and Guangzhou with Christchurch, New Zealand.

So far, the airline has resumed 59 international routes after the COVID-19 pandemic.

For the domestic market, China Southern plans to launch new flights that connect Beijing Daxing International Airport with Wenzhou, Zhejiang province; Chengdu Tianfu International Airport with Nanjing, Jiangsu province; and Dalian, Liaoning province with Qingdao, Shandong province.

"We would like to undertake the role of a State-owned enterprise and make more contributions to the BRI and other major regional strategies," said Han Wensheng, general manager of China Southern.

This year, China Southern has optimized its flight network and pushed to build dual hubs at Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport and Beijing Daxing, thereby raising its competitiveness in the domestic market and for international flight transfers.

So far, China Southern has launched flights that connect Beijing Daxing with nearly 30 domestic cities. On the international leg, the carrier has resumed flights that connect Beijing Daxing with Amsterdam, Istanbul and Seoul, and launched new international flights connecting Beijing Daxing and London, Moscow, Tokyo and Osaka, the carrier said.

In the first seven months, the domestic air travel market saw 346 million passenger trips, or 91 percent of the level seen in 2019 before the pandemic, according to the Civil Aviation Administration of China.

From January to July, the pace of recovery of China Southern's flight operations was higher than the industry average. In the domestic market, some key routes saw big demand and their operational volumes exceeded the pre-pandemic level in 2019, the company said.

The domestic flights include routes connecting Guangzhou, Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen and second-tier cities. Demand for these flights exceeded the 2019 level, it said.

On international routes, during the seven-month period, demand for flights connecting Guangzhou and overseas cities such as Kuala Lumpur, Dubai and London was high, and the volumes resumed to more than 60 percent of the 2019 level, China Southern said.

Besides, demand for flights connecting Shenzhen and Dubai, Chongqing and Singapore, as well as Urumqi and Tashkent, Uzbekistan, exceeded the 2019 level, it said.

"It is expected that starting from 2024, the domestic civil aviation market in China will maintain a normal growth rate and the international flight market will continue to grow after a full recovery this year," Han said.

Currently, China Southern Airlines Group, grouping China Southern and Xiamen Airlines, operates a fleet of 901 aircraft. The group said it will increase its transportation capacity to meet growing travel demand from passengers.

Meanwhile, the International Air Transport Association said earlier this month that the strong post-pandemic passenger traffic trend has continued in August. Globally, traffic is now at 95.7 percent of pre-COVID-19 levels.

"Demand for air travel performed well in August. For the year to date, international traffic has increased by 50 percent versus last year and ticket sales data show international bookings strengthening for travel in the last part of the year," said the IATA's director-general Willie Walsh.