AIRLINES from Hong Kong and Macau, along with operators from Southeast and East Asia, are the airlines deemed to have the most exposure to China, says travel industry data expert Cirium.
This comes as airlines around the world continue to suspend international capacity to mainland China in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak, with the reduction of services keenly felt by Chinese carriers.
This does not take into account the fact that many overseas operators, notably from Europe, have struggled to expand beyond “large cities such as Beijing, Guangzhou, and Shanghai”, citing insufficient feeder services to secondary airports. At the same time, strained geopolitical relations have also applied downward pressure on the “appetite for more connectivity” from North American operators.
Cirium’s data for December 2019, the month before the coronavirus outbreak, had begun to impact air services, revealed that Malaysia’s own AirAsia X Bhd, which is currently embroiled in its own woes with Airbus SE, also saw 24% of its flights and seats on China routes, which accounts for 20% of its available seat kilometres (ASKs), according to Cirium.
“In terms of total flights to mainland China, AirAsia ranks highly among its peers at 1,161, or 6% of its total services during the month of December,” said Cirium.
The biggest impact was felt by Hong Kong-based Cathay Dragon, the low-cost arm of Cathay Pacific, as well as Macau-based Macau Air, which saw more than half of their capacity taken up by flights to and from China in December.
Cirium notes that South Korea’s Asiana and Korean Air both have significant presences on China routes, with the former accounting for 21% of flights, and the latter, 15% of flights. They were also identified as the leaders in the region in terms of total flights to and from China, with nearly 1,800 flights each in the month of December alone. South Korea’s burgeoning low-cost carriers such as Air Busan and Jeju Air, also have relatively high exposure to China’s mainland market.
Thailand’s NokScoot saw 45% of its flights and seats, along with 40% of its ASKs going towards China services, despite accounting for less than 200 flights in December.
Thai Lion Air and Thai AirAsia follow NokScoot as the next two Thai airlines with the highest exposure, with 23% and 13% of their flights respectively on China services as well. Even flag-carrier Thai Airways, with its focus on long-haul flights, saw 9% of its flights plying China routes.
Singapore saw its low-cost carrier, Scoot, deploying 17% of its flights on China services, while regional operator SilkAir saw 10% of its flights on China routes. Flag-carrier Singapore Airlines saw 6% of its flights on China services as well. – Feb 7, 2020
