After eight years’, Qantas has started flying to Beijing again from Sydney.
The new flights to Beijing Capital International Airport Terminal 3 recommenced on the 25th January using a 235-seat Airbus A330-200 aircraft. The inbound flights have been timed to connect to the airline’s domestic network to destinations such as Melbourne, Brisbane, and Hobart, as well as services to New Zealand’s popular cities Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch, and Queenstown.
The daily service sees flight QF107 departing Sydney at 1350 and arriving in Beijing at 2240. Meanwhile, the return service has flight QF108 departing at 0015 from Beijing everyday but Thursdays and Sundays, when it departs five minutes later at 0020, arriving back in Sydney at 1455.
Together with Shanghai and Hong Kong, Beijing is Qantas’ third destination in Greater China. The resumed service between the two cities presents massive opportunities for the airline to tap into the booming Chinese travel market.
As part of its growth strategy, Qantas will be working with Tourism Australia, Destination NSW as well as partner airline, China Eastern, to market Australia to a Chinese audience. The broader Asian region is also part of this strategy and as such, the carrier is also increasing its total capacity on routes to Asia by seven per cent.
Furthermore, Qantas’ partnership with China Eastern and China Southern means customers have a choice of 130 weekly return flights between Australia and China, as well as some 256 connecting domestic services within China.
CEO for Qantas, Mr Alan Joyce, sees the refreshed operation as a new era for Qantas’ established history in serving the Chinese market. He made these statements in a Qantas press release:
‘It’s the perfect time for Qantas to fly to Beijing. The China-Australia Free Trade Agreement is hitting its stride and China is on track to become the number one source of visitors to Australia within the next year or so.’
‘What’s really exciting is the potential we see for the future. We now have the Qantas Group’s biggest ever network in Greater China, and our goal is to make our Beijing route a flagship corridor for tourism and trade.’
For Chinese travellers, our message is that there’s no better way of getting to know Australia than with the national carrier. In the business market, this route gives our companies the ability to win new business and get their products and services into the market. And it’s a positive for the Australian travel industry. So whichever way you look at it, this is a good news story.’