China's four major carriers look to expand in central and western regions

China's four major airlines — China Southern Airlines, China Eastern Airlines, Hainan Airlines, and Air China — are striving to establish regional aviation hubs for second-tier cities chiefly in the country's central and western regions, reports Beijing's Economic Observer.

Several years ago, they fought to merge with domestic airlines, and now they are using the domestic airlines they acquired as the major forces to compete to become regional aviation hubs, the paper said.

On Sept. 24, Xiamen Airlines — which was acquired by China Southern Airlines — added a new aircraft to its fleet in Zhengzhou in central China's Henan province, increasing its stationed aircraft there to four. The move positions Zhengzhou as an important strategic base for exploring the central China market.

Just 12 days earlier, China Eastern Airlines signed a strategic cooperation framework agreement with Henan province to help in the construction of the Zhengzhou Airport economic comprehensive experimental zone, which will strengthen its routes between Zhengzhou, Shanghai and Kunming.

Insiders say that all four of the country's major airlines are fighting to become regional aviation hubs, not just in Zhengzhou, but also in Kunming, Wuhan, Urumqi, Guiyang, and Chongqing. Zhengzhou has become one of the main targeted cities because its passenger throughput broke the 10 million benchmark in 2011, and grew by an additional 15% last year. Meanwhile, the State Council, the country's cabinet, has approved Zhengzhou's plan to be the nation's first air economic zone and fast track the city's transition from a railway-pivoted economy to an aerotropolis.

As Xiamen Airlines used to focus on the southeastern region, it must work hard to establish a regional hub in the central area, said Jiang Wen, general manager of Xiamen Airlines' network capacity division. Xiamen Airlines now plans to add five to six new flight routes in Zhengzhou next year, increasing its flights by 50%, Jiang said.

Xiamen Airlines has already seen its market share rising in Zhengzhou. Figures showed that in the first eight months of the year, China Southern Airlines accounted for 36% of the market share in terms of passenger fights, China Eastern Airlines and its subsidiary Shanghai Airlines came in second with 11.7%, third was Shenzhen Airline with 9.9%, with Xiamen Airlines coming in fourth with 7.1%, and Hainan Airlines in fifth with 6%.

Xiamen Airlines also plans to almost double its aircraft in the city to 14 by 2015 as it has found the market potential in the northwest flight routes, Jiang said. The airline will set up its first west route from Xiamen in southern China's Fujian province to Yinchuan in northwest China's Ningxia Hui autonomous region to support the state mission to help develop the northwestern regions.

Following the government's strategy to invest in the less developed central and western regions, passenger throughput in these areas have clearly outpaced the traditional intensive eastern areas. In the first seven months of the year, the top five airports in terms of passenger throughput — Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shenzhen and Chengdu — all had a year-on-year growth of lower than 10%, while that of Kunming, Xian, Chongqing all enjoyed a year-on-year growth of more than 10%, indicating the latter's potential for higher growth.

Source: Want ChinaTimes

from China Travel & Tourism News http://www.chinatraveltourismnews.com/

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