25 Jan 2021

China Aviation Industry Newsletter 25 January

Air China begins split terminal operations in Beijing Air China has begun operating from two terminals at Beijing Capital International Airport as rivals leave for the newly-opened Daxing airport.  Over 70 flights to 21 domestic destinations, including services to the Inner Mongolian capital of Hohhot, will now operate out of Terminal 2 instead of Terminal 3. China's ARJ21 jetliner hits record-high annual delivery of 24 China's ARJ21 regional jetliner hit a record high annual delivery of 24 aircraft in 2020, according to the Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China (COMAC). The China-developed regional jetliner model has entered a phase of accelerated batch delivery and large-scale commercial operation. China Southern Airlines launches NDC sales on social e-commerce site Pinduodu China Southern Airlines has officially launched direct sales of tickets on Pinduoduo. Pinduoduo users can book the tickets of China Southern Airlines through the "recharge center" of Pinduoduo, and enjoy the same services as those who purchase on the official website of China Southern Airlines. China Southern Airlines is the first airline company to cooperate with Pinduoduo in direct sales of tickets. China Southern notches 71% passenger load factor in 2020 China Southern Airlines released its full-year and December 2020 performance results recently. Unsurprisingly, when compared to results of the previous year, the airline has seen a significant drop in almost every metric, including available seat kilometers (ASK), revenue passenger kilometers (RPK), and overall load factor.  Somewhat notable, however, is the airline’s ability to attain a 60% overall load factor over the course of 2020. Excluding cargo and mail, the passenger load factor alone was over 71%. Hong Kong’s Greater Bay Airlines seeks rights to fly to over 100 cities Hong Kong’s newest start-up carrier Greater Bay Airlines has formally applied for air transportation rights to operate to more than 100 points in the Asia-Pacific region. In the application 50% of the routes are to mainland China, a filing with Hong Kong’s Air Transport Licensing Authority (ATLA). These include key business routes to Beijing, Shanghai, Xiamen and Haikou, as well as to second- and third-tier Chinese cities. The filing also states that the airline is looking to operate Boeing 737-800 aircraft and commence operations in FY2021Q2. IATA: Chinese airlines have seen a return to profitability IATA chief economist Brian Pearce said at CAPA Live January 2021 that Chinese airlines have probably returned to profitability now, thanks to the fast recovery of China's domestic aviation market. "Airlines based in China have already seen a full recovery of domestic air travel, and in fact Chinese airlines have probably seen a return to profitability already," according to Mr. Pearce. Acumen Aviation © 25 January 2021 All Rights Reserved.