Running head: AIR CHINA NEW ROUTES 1

Air China New Routes

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Air China New Routes

Introduction

Air China is considered the flag carrier of China and one of the big three Chinese airlines

alongside China Southern and China Eastern Airlines. With its head office at Shunyi in Beijing,

Air China's major flight operations are situated in Beijing Capital International Airport. Before

the COVID-19 pandemic, Air China would carry as many as 109 million domestic and

international passengers as seen in 2017. Air China's route network runs from China to the rest of

Asia, the Middle East, Europe, Africa, and North and South America. Air China is one of the few

airlines in the world that serve all the 6 habitable continents while still running a domestic

network. Air China should increase the number of domestic and international routes to keep up

with Chinese competitors like China Eastern Airlines and international companies like American

Airlines.

Summary of the Primary Source

Simple Flying is considered the world's biggest aviation news website with the goal of

offering a one-stop hub for all important news on commercial aviation. The site works to share

the news in a simpler and more accessible manner. Simple Flying attains up to 30 million views

monthly in traffic to its website and video and audio platforms. Mark Finlay, a journalist

working in the industry for over 7 years, wrote a news piece on the new international routes that

Simple Flying has added to its international routes.

Finlay (2020) reports that Air China claimed that it would be resuming its flights in June

2020 after the lockdown and operating 24 global routes. Air China reported that it would be

adding two new flight routes that would link Beijing with Madrid, Spain, and Manila,

Philippines. The changes that were made include the changing of flights to and from Beijing to
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Madrid to operate from Terminal 4 instead of Terminal 1. Finlay (2020) reports that the Civil

Aviation Authority of China (CAAC) reported in March that it was limiting the number of

international flights. The measure was meant to restrict Chinese airlines' figure by permitting

only one flight between China and another nation. For instance, given that Air China flew from

China to Canada, it would have to choose between Toronto and Vancouver. Aside from the one

destination per the country directive, the Chinese airlines were also only allowed to make one

global flight weekly.

Finlay (2020) reported that Air China would be flying from 1 st June to different parts of

the world with new routes to Madrid and Manila. The new flight route will allow Air China to

tap into a new market and increase its profit margin. Back in the year 2006, Air China started

flying to South American destinations, which would be the airline's longest direct flight. For

such long flights, Air China introduced the Airbus A330-200 and Boeing 787-9 airplanes for the

longest flights. Flying to Madrid and Manila would be easier for passengers and would help the

company to make profit, having grounded its planes during the lockdown period at the height of

the COVID-19 pandemic.

What Chinese Competitors are Doing

In China, Air China's two biggest competitors include China Southern and China Eastern

Airlines. The two big competitors have resumed their flights and have added new routes to their

flight network. China Eastern airlines currently has no grounded aircraft and has been working to

increase its profit margins (Zhang et al., 2020). The same case has been witnessed in China

Southern Airlines that has been working to increase the passenger flight volume and the areas

where it flies to. The resumption of flights came amidst the Qingming Festival that took place in

April and May holidays. While Air China has added only 2 new flights, China Eastern Airlines
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has added 33 new routes bringing its total average number of flights to 2,830 flights within the

domestic market (Ayittey et al., 2020).

As China Eastern Airlines has gone to conquer the international space with new flight

routes, China Southern Airlines would be focusing on increasing the domestic market's capacity

by opening 29 new domestic routes to increase the figure of domestic destinations to 161

(Ayittey et al., 2020). China Southern Airlines would increase its domestic routes by over 25

percent compared to pre-COVID-19 numbers. It seems that Air China's competitors are doing

much more to obtain a bigger share of the aviation market. China Southern Airlines plans to

operate a mean of 2,100 flights with 620 routes (Daon, Thompson & Obolski, 2020).

As the two big airlines have added new flight routes to their network, the small domestic

players that include the small and medium-sized airlines, have taken the initiative to boost their

recovery prospects as well (Zhang et al., 2020). Air China will experience competition from the

international and domestic players. China United Airlines planned to offer 99 routes when the

new season started and 64 routes from Beijing Daxing International Airport with up to 230 daily

flights. The domestic airline corporations equally stiff competition to Air China with scheduled

flights totaling to 92,756 flights, up 10 percent from the pre-COVID-19 period (Daon, Thompson

& Obolski, 2020).

Domestic airlines have increased their offering to new flights within China, showing how

aggressive they are in rebuilding (Zhang et al., 2020). For instance, 9 Air, a low-cost carrier in

Central and Southern China, operates from Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport. 9 Air

attained the rights to a new route from Beijing to Shanghai as a new route. Additionally, CAAC

announced that 9 Air had attained the rights to operate its flights from Guangzhou. Other

domestic airlines, such as Capital Airlines, have equally worked to obtain the permits for a new
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route from Beijing to Chengdu. Therefore, Air China's Chinese competitors have been working

to increase their flight volume by increasing the number of new flight routes (Daon, Thompson

& Obolski, 2020).

What International Airlines are Doing

In the international realm, Air China has big competitors like American Airlines and

Delta Airlines. Air China's international competitors have been striving to increase their flight

volume by increasing the number of new flight routes. While Air China has only introduced 2

new flight routes, American Airlines has added 10 new flight routes to the network, whereby 8

are international flight routes while 2 are domestic (Adrienne, Budd & Ison, 2020). Just like Air

China tried to take advantage of the new travel season amidst the Qingming Festival, American

Airlines also strived to take advantage of the new spring and summer holiday season to increase

the number of new flights. American Airlines channeled its focus to Miami, that has now

become the epicenter of vacations due to fewer COVID-19 related restrictions, especially in

relation to in-door dining. While Air China works with the imposed limit on the number of

flights per destination, American Airlines is free to go to any destination at whichever frequency.

Aside from new fight routes to Miami, American Airlines has new flight paths to Israel whereby

the planes will fly from Miami to Tel Aviv (Albers & Rundshagen, 2020).

Delta Airlines has equally worked to increase the number of new flight paths to take

advantage of the new holiday season (Gruenwald, 2020). Delta Airlines has created a new flight

route to Iceland, which is the first European destination that is open to vaccinated American

passengers. While Delta Airlines travels to Europe, it has been forced to create a new route to

Iceland because it is open to inoculated Americans. As Air China has made a new flight path to

Madrid, Delta Airlines has made a new route to Milan, which is in neighboring Italy. While Italy
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was severely affected with COVID-19 and has imposed a 14-day mandatory quarantine rule,

Delta Airlines will still allow its passengers to travel to Milan Malpensa airport. Therefore, it

seems that Air China's competitors have done much more in creating new routes to boost their

business. Air China should thus work to increase the number of flight paths to destinations that

are open for business (Albers & Rundshagen, 2020).

Recommendation

Air China should Increase the Number of New Flight Routes both Domestically and

Internationally

Air China should work to increase the number of flight paths and routes both

domestically and internationally. Air China should be smart about its route planning by selecting

the destinations that are open to vaccinated passengers and that have a high number of visitors.

At the top of the list should be Florida in the United States, which is now the epicenter of

vacation. Besides Florida, Air China should know the other key routes with high traffic or

number of passengers. Air China can use aviation market intelligence tools such as OAG

Aviation Analytics to evaluate, monitor, and determine capacity trends in air travel to establish

where to set up the new travel routes.

Air China can either use its internal data or leverage industry-wide passenger data to

identify air travel trends. Some of the vital data points that can be considered include the air fare,

the routes, and other connections. By analyzing said data, Air China will determine the number

of passengers who travel per day and the connections they make between the world's different

airports. After Air China has determined the average traffic flow per day, it would determine the

kind of aircraft that is suited to the particular route and then work to implement the necessary

measures.
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Since the world is still grappling with the COVID-19 pandemic, Air China must thus

prepare for the unknown because the pandemic comes with disruptions and uncertainties. As Air

China will launch the new flight paths and routes, it should be ready for disruptions such as the

imposition of lockdown or travel restrictions that may force the customers to stay home. Even

though a vaccine has been discovered and is currently being distributed to different parts of the

world, a new strain of COVID-19 has been discovered and governments may issue lockdowns to

protect their citizens. After making all the necessary considerations, Air China should launch

loudly and use many advertisement channels like social media and conventional media to bring

visibility to its new flight routes and the customers' services.

Conclusion

Air China should increase the number of domestic and international routes to keep up

with Chinese competitors like China Eastern Airlines and international companies like American

Airlines. Air China claimed that it would be resuming its flights on June 2020 after the lockdown

and operating 24 global routes, only adding 2 new routes. On the other hand, China Eastern

Airlines has added 33 new routes while American Airlines has added 10 new flight routes. It

seems that Air China's competitors are doing much more to obtain a bigger share of the aviation

market Therefore, to gain a competitive edge, Air China must increase the number of domestic

and international flights and prepare for any uncertainty such as new lockdown measures.
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References

Adrienne, N., Budd, L., & Ison, S. (2020). Grounded aircraft: An airfield operations perspective

of the challenges of resuming flights post COVID. Journal of Air Transport

Management, 89, 101921.

Albers, S., & Rundshagen, V. (2020). European airlines′ strategic responses to the COVID-19

pandemic (January-May, 2020). Journal of air transport management, 87, 101863.

Ayittey, F. K., Ayittey, M. K., Chiwero, N. B., Kamasah, J. S., & Dzuvor, C. (2020). Economic

impacts of Wuhan 2019‐nCoV on China and the world. Journal of Medical Virology,

92(5), 473-475.

Daon, Y., Thompson, R. N., & Obolski, U. (2020). Estimating COVID-19 outbreak risk through

air travel. Journal of travel medicine, 27(5), taaa093.

Finlay, M. (2020). Air China Adds Additional International Routes - Simple Flying. Simple

Flying. Retrieved 14 April 2021, from https://simpleflying.com/air-china-international-

routes/.

Gruenwald, H. (2020). Covid-19 and Airlines.

Zhang, L., Yang, H., Wang, K., Zhan, Y., & Bian, L. (2020). Measuring imported case risk of

COVID-19 from inbound international flights---A case study on China. Journal of Air

Transport Management, 89, 101918.