Chinese airlines flock to Australia in time for Lunar new year

China’s major airlines are returning to Australia en masse raising hopes in the tourism industry of a Lunar New Year visitor surge.

China Eastern is leading the return of the big Chinese airlines to Australia in time for Lunar New Year celebrations.

After a three-year absence, China’s major airlines are returning to Australia en masse, signalling a long-anticipated return of Chinese business and leisure travellers.

China Eastern touched down in Melbourne on Tuesday, with China Southern to follow on Wednesday. Another three Chinese carriers including Sichuan Airlines, Beijing Capital and Air China will resume services in February, adding thousands of seats into the market.

The flights mean Melbourne will again have direct connections to a range of Chinese cities including Guangzhou, Shanghai, Cheng­du, Beijing and Qingdao.

Sydney Airport was also seeing a big ramp up in capacity from China Southern, China Eastern and Xiamen Air plus the return of Air China on February 3.

Prior to the Covid pandemic, China represented Australia’s largest and most lucrative inbound visitor market after leapfrogging New Zealand in early 2018.

In 2019, 1.43 million Chinese visitors travelled to Australia on 158 flights a week, spending in excess of $12bn.

Sydney Airport chief executive Geoff Culbert said the rapid increase in flights to and from China was a “positive sign” but there was still significantly more work to do to rebuild overseas travel.

“International passenger traffic is still well behind pre-pandemic levels and lower flight numbers,” Mr Culbert said.

“Australia needs to unlock more capacity and quickly, if we want to see a sustained recovery for our tourism, education and export industries.”

In December, 1.16 million passengers passed through Sydney’s T1 terminal, still 27.9 per cent below the same month in 2019.

Melbourne Airport chief of aviation Jim Parashos said it was exciting to see China’s major carriers return to the city, resulting in further growth in the airport workforce.

“To have so many carriers return so quickly shows the confidence China’s airlines have in Victoria and the importance they place on Melbourne in particular,” Mr Parashos said.

“By March we’re hopeful of being at almost 50 per cent of pre-pandemic capacity from mainland China, which while very welcome, also underscores how much further we have to go.”

Brisbane and Perth Airports faced a longer wait with Chinese airlines yet to commit to flights despite operating services to both cities pre-Covid.

Tourism Australia managing director Phillipa Harrison said the return of Chinese travellers to Australia was great news and would provide a significant boost to the tourism industry.

“China was our number one market in terms of both visitation and spend before the pandemic, and we have all been looking forward to welcoming Chinese travellers back to Australia,” said Ms Harrison.”

“Visitation numbers will take time to bounce back to 2019 levels, and aviation capacity still needs to rebuild, but there are encouraging signs indicating that Australia is one of the top destinations Chinese travellers are looking to visit in 2023.”

Throughout the pandemic, Tourism Australia had continued to engage with consumers and trade in China, even when travel was not possible, Ms Harrison said.

“We will continue to work hard to encourage those Chinese travellers dreaming about an Australian holiday to book,” she said.

There were still a handful of Chinese carriers yet to return to Australia and Qantas has not announced a starting date for the recommencement of its flights to Shanghai.

A Qantas spokeswoman said the airline “regularly reviewed its schedule” and would keep customers updated on any flights to China.