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Why are international airlines cutting flights to China?

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Why are international airlines cutting flights to China?

International airlines are scaling back China flights from this month because Chinese carriers have gained an edge by flying over Russia to reach Europe, with some analysts also saying business travel has thinned as China’s economic growth has slowed.

UK-based Virgin Atlantic plans to suspend its Shanghai-London Heathrow route after 25 years from Saturday, while British Airways will halt its Heathrow-Beijing Daxing flights on the same day, according to aviation analysts and industry media outlets.

The same sources say Sweden-based Scandinavian Airlines is set to fly its Copenhagen-Shanghai route for the last time on November 7, Qantas Airways of Australia has dropped its Sydney-Shanghai route and German carrier Lufthansa was considering last month whether to suspend its Frankfurt-Beijing route.

In the United States, Delta Air Lines has postponed plans to resume Shanghai-Los Angeles trips, Guangzhou-based aviation analyst Li Hanming said this month. A Delta spokesman said on Tuesday that the airline will resume the route in June.

Airlines traditionally make seasonal adjustments to their schedules every October and March.

US and European carriers can deploy their aircraft more effectively in other more profitable markets

Dennis Lau, Asian Sky Group
The cutbacks have been partly attributed to competition from Chinese carriers, which can save two to three air hours and tens of thousands of US dollars per trip by cruising over Russian airspace that is banned to Western carriers due to the war in Ukraine.
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