Overseas airlines scramble for access
By Cao Ming (China Business Weekly)
Updated: 2004-04-13 08:46

A well-known ancient Chinese poet, Su Shi (1037-1101), used to describe the natural scene in April as: "Two or three sprays of peach behind bamboo; When spring warms the river the ducks are the first to know."

As for the potential of China's tourism industry, airline companies from other countries seem to be the "ducks," who have very good foresight about passenger loads as more Chinese travellers prefer overseas destinations as their first choice for holidays.

As the Spring and May Day week-long holiday approaches, several overseas airlines are striving to promote their business and services so as to land more giant silver birds in the Beijing nest -- one of the most fruitful tourism destinations in the world.

First of all, airlines from China's neighbouring countries began to restore and increase the number of flights to meet the demands of Chinese passengers.

Garuda Indonesia, a leading carrier in the Southeast Asian country of Indonesia, reopened flights from Beijing to the country's capital of Jakarta at the beginning of the year.

That means Chinese travellers have much easier access to the country, where they can enjoy the enchanting scenery of Bali island among others.

Nsatrawandy Hadi, Garuda Indonesia's general manager, said the new route caters to the needs of the growing number of Chinese visitors to the country, which is an archipelago.

There are now four direct air links between the Indonesian capital and China, including Shanghai and Guangzhou.

To lure more Chinese to Bali, the local government readjusted its time in accordance with Beijing time and urged stewardess and local residents to speak Chinese.

Local people and the government have tried hard to shake off the shadow left by the bloody Bali nightclub bombings on October 12, 2002.

From this month, Malaysia Airlines has started offering twice weekly direct flights between Shanghai and Kota Kinabalu, capital of the east Malaysian state of Sabah.

The Sabah-bound flights from Shanghai followed the airline's services to the state from Guangzhou and Xiamen, which it launched only months ago.

The Sabah services from Shanghai are likely to have a negative impact on flights to the state by Royal Brunei Airlines, as local tourists no longer need to fly via Brunei.

"The new route will benefit mainly tourists and so far we have sold between 70 and 80 per cent of all the seats for the first month," said Alex Ooi, manager of Malaysia Airlines' eastern China business.

The carrier launched direct flights from Kota Kinabalu to Xiamen in December and to Guangzhou in January, hoping to make Kota Kinabalu the second largest gateway to Malaysia after Kuala Lumpur, the capital.

The eastern Malaysian is an attractive destination due to its rain forest and natural attractions.

About 500,000 Chinese tourists visit Malaysia annually, according to officials with the Sabah Tourism Board.

Also, the Republic of Korea (ROK) and China reached an agreement last month to allow the ROK's only two carriers to fly about 58 more flights per week to China, with a comparable increase for their Chinese counterparts.

The agreement will abandon a long-standing policy of "one carrier serving one route on each side" for those routes which are now served by more than 11 flights a week. It means the ROK's biggest airline, Korean Air, will be able to share the growing Shanghai-Seoul route with its rival Asiana Airlines.

"We expect to launch flights between Shanghai and Seoul during the first half of this year and we hope to take all the 11 weekly flights that are granted this time," said Shin Hyun Oh, Korean Air's general manager in charge of Chinese passenger services.

On the other hand, airlines from European and South American countries were not willing to be outshone. Last Wednesday, a three-member family in Beijing returned to the Beijing Capital International Airport after enjoying a free seven-day trip to Helsinki, sponsored by Finnair.

"My wife, my daughter and I were honoured to meet with Keijo Suila, CEO of Finnair, who gave us a briefing about the beautiful country with saunas and Santa Claus," said Liao Tao, a civil servant in Beijing.

Mikko Rautio, general manager of Finnair China, said: "We hope to take more Chinese families to Finland and other European countries as most European Union countries have become tourism destinations for Chinese citizens."

Finnair will have five weekly flights from Shanghai to Helsinki by June and it will add two more flights next April.

In March, Air France announced it would add two flights to its current five weekly departures from Guangzhou to Paris as of June 14. It already has a daily flight to Shanghai.

It is expected that the Republic of Iceland will sign an agreement on Monday to become an Approved Destination Status (ADS) destination, which means another tourism destination will be added to the list for carriers.

By the end of March, Varig Brazilian Airlines, the leading air transportation company in South America, planned to explore the Chinese market, with the opening of its first non-stop flight between the two nations expected in August.

During the Brazilian president's visit to China in May, Alberto Fajerman, vice-executive president of Brazilian Airlines, said it is expected that Brazil will sign an ADS agreement with the China National Tourism Administration.

In the past years, about 850,000 Chinese have visited Brazil for business annually. The number of passengers will expand greatly if the ADS is settled in the near future, according to Fajerman.

So far, there are 73 airlines from 45 countries flying into China. These companies have 167 fixed flights for passengers and 61 fixed cargo flights.

Such fierce market competition will spur domestic aviation firms to improve their services and to participate in global competition, according to Wang Suqi, a manager with the China International Travel Service.

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