In the Summer of 2024, total frequency of flights operated by airlines domiciled in China stood at a record 1,767, a growth of 120 pc vis-a-vis the 802 flights operated in the Summer of 2019, making Central Asia the star performer in the recovery of international connectivity of Chinese airlines, says a report by OAG, an aviation data tracking and consulting firm.

It says that the reopening of China in 2023 after the pandemic was expected to lead to a flood of Chinese travellers around the world, but while there has been a rebound, the growth in connectivity has been less than expected to key destinations around the world.

OAG says that in total six regional markets have seen over a 50 pc increase in flying from Chinese airlines since last Summer, with a combination of new regional growth markets such as Central Asia and the Middle East competing alongside some of the more established regional destinations such as Western Europe. 

In total, with the addition of Eastern Central Europe, there are now four regional markets that in frequency terms are ahead of their Summer 2019 levels. However, it warns that some of the growth in Europe may well prove to be short-term in its operation if demand does not build quickly. 

Since summer 2023 the number of scheduled flights from Chinese airlines to Europe has increased by 74 pc with an additional 6,331 flights planned, the equivalent of 30 flights a day, and comfortably outstripping the Summer 2019 level by 16 pc. London has now become the major gateway for services from Chinese airlines with 35 pc more flights than the last Summer season. 

Paris, previously the market leader, has now fallen back into fourth spot and is the only major city reporting a reduction in frequency. Italy has always been a popular destination for the outbound China market and frequently is the start or beginning of a European road trip, so increases in capacity to both Rome and Milan are not surprising. 

But there has been growth in some markets, says OAG, adding that capitalising on their continued operation through Russian airspace, Chinese airlines have spent the last 12 months rapidly building new services to major regional markets where bi-lateral issues do not exist. 

It says that besides Central Asia, traffic rebound has been the highest to the Middle East where 2,621 flights were operated, a growth of 59 pc compared to 1,645 flights in 2019. Connectivity with Europe, both Eastern and Western has been better than 2019, with 3,518 flights to former and 11,317 flights to the latter in Summer of 2024.

However, the biggest two regions served by Chinese airlines are North East Asia and South East Asia and even though both have seen impressive growth rates in 2024, they continue to lag behind 2019 levels.

OAG says that Chinese airlines operated 63,680 flights to North-East Asia, a growth of 69.7 pc over 2023, but still 9.3 pc lower than the 70,226 flights operated in 2019. Recovery in South East Asia has been even bigger, with 83.5 pc growth in flights operated, which stood at 49,256 in Summer of 2024 as against 26,845 in 2023, with 54,080 in 2019.

OAG says that what is surprising is the range of new markets added this year compared to previous years. Five new destinations of which Yerevan is perhaps the most surprising although equally secondary cities such as Marseille and Venice now have connections to China. Zurich on the other hand is yet to be reserved post-pandemic, although Geneva has a healthy 63 pc more flights than in 2019.

For the Chinese airlines it seems that a lot of hope is being placed on Europe as a means of generating hard currencies while capitalising on the Russian overflight block for their direct competitors. The level of that frequency investment is highlighted in the table below which shows the number of scheduled flights planned over the summer for each Chinese airline. 

Three carriers have more than doubled their operations to Europe year on year. Juneyao Airlines leads the way with an additional 254 flights through a combination of new market entry points such as Manchester, Athens and Brussels coupled with a small capacity increase to Helsinki. Shanghai Airlines are another airline investing heavily with their Marseille service which operates three times weekly.