Air China to expand presence Down Under

Originally published on asia.businesstraveller.com 19/11/2008 - Filed under:

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Air China plans to strengthen its presence in the Australian market, increasing frequencies to Sydney and Melbourne, and possibly introduce a new destination in the region.??

Just 11 months ago, the carrier increased capacity to Australia by over 40 percent. ??Air China currently operates 10 services weekly to mainland China, consisting of three non-stop Sydney-Beijing services and four daily Sydney-Shanghai-Beijing services. The Melbourne-Shanghai-Beijing service is three times weekly.??

Mark Mulville, Air China national sales & marketing manager, said an additional two weekly frequencies would be introduced to meet growing demand to China as both a business and tourist destination. “We will add one additional Sydney-Beijing service, departing Sydney on Fridays while Melbourne- Shanghai-Beijing will be increased to four times weekly with the introduction of a new Sunday departure.”?

?The forth service from Melbourne will begin from this Sunday November 23, while the eighth Sydney flight will be added from December 12.

??The new Australian schedule will see Air China operate a total of 12 return services a week to mainland China and provide a 480 seat increase to the market over current levels. “Our plan is to operate 21 flights a week to Australia by 2010 with double daily flights from Sydney, one each to Shanghai and Beijing, and a daily Melbourne – Shanghai – Beijing service.

All 12 services are code shared with Star Alliance partner Air New Zealand.

??Air China also confirmed it was considering commencing services to a third destination in Australia or New Zealand within the next 18 months. Brisbane, Perth and Auckland are all under consideration.??

Air China continues to operate all its Australian services with new Airbus A330-200s, which feature a two-class cabin containing 34 Business and 206 Economy Class seats.? ?

For more details, visit www.qantas.com.au.

Margie T Logarta