China: Paging airlines' ideal customer, the Western business traveller
Riding an overseas tourism boom, China's airlines are sprucing up services on gleaming new jets to fresh destinations with the bold aim of cracking a lucrative passenger market dominated by established rivals - Western business travellers. At Airshow China this week, the country's largest air expo, flag carrier Air China showed off virtual reality goggles for long-haul business class customers. Fast-growing Hainan Airlines has unveiled menus by Michelin-star chefs, joining bigger players like China Eastern and China Southern in touting new offerings. China already accounts for a quarter of all business travel spending, according to a Global Business Travel Association report this week, up from 5% in 2000. But much of that is domestic: as they expand economy service abroad - and rates of growth ease at home - mainland carriers are preparing to do battle for the highest-margin travellers. Standing in their way are established Asia business travel heavyweights like Cathay Pacific, Singapore Airlines and Qantas. To succeed, Chinese airlines will need to shrug off historical doubts about safety records, and in some cases lure customers away from prized air miles schemes. "The work required to create growth is exhausting, that has not left much bandwidth to focus on strategic growth, like improving corporate and premium," said Will Horton, a Hong Kong-based senior analyst for aviation consultancy CAPA. But the push is definitely there. Why leave money behind?" The logic for pursuing business travel growth is clear. On flights between the South Pacific and Asia, according to data from the IATA, premium passengers account for 8% of travellers but generate close to a third of revenue. As the volume of Chinese air travellers grow, weekly non-stop flights between Australia and mainland China alone have grown by 18% to 114 over the last 12 months, according to data from CAPA. Each business class seat filled on those routes would give a handsome boost to revenue.<br/>
https://portal.staralliance.com/cms/news/hot-topics/2016-11-04/general/china-paging-airlines-ideal-customer-the-western-business-traveller
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China: Paging airlines' ideal customer, the Western business traveller
Riding an overseas tourism boom, China's airlines are sprucing up services on gleaming new jets to fresh destinations with the bold aim of cracking a lucrative passenger market dominated by established rivals - Western business travellers. At Airshow China this week, the country's largest air expo, flag carrier Air China showed off virtual reality goggles for long-haul business class customers. Fast-growing Hainan Airlines has unveiled menus by Michelin-star chefs, joining bigger players like China Eastern and China Southern in touting new offerings. China already accounts for a quarter of all business travel spending, according to a Global Business Travel Association report this week, up from 5% in 2000. But much of that is domestic: as they expand economy service abroad - and rates of growth ease at home - mainland carriers are preparing to do battle for the highest-margin travellers. Standing in their way are established Asia business travel heavyweights like Cathay Pacific, Singapore Airlines and Qantas. To succeed, Chinese airlines will need to shrug off historical doubts about safety records, and in some cases lure customers away from prized air miles schemes. "The work required to create growth is exhausting, that has not left much bandwidth to focus on strategic growth, like improving corporate and premium," said Will Horton, a Hong Kong-based senior analyst for aviation consultancy CAPA. But the push is definitely there. Why leave money behind?" The logic for pursuing business travel growth is clear. On flights between the South Pacific and Asia, according to data from the IATA, premium passengers account for 8% of travellers but generate close to a third of revenue. As the volume of Chinese air travellers grow, weekly non-stop flights between Australia and mainland China alone have grown by 18% to 114 over the last 12 months, according to data from CAPA. Each business class seat filled on those routes would give a handsome boost to revenue.<br/>
