Chinese city Fuzhou offers subsidies on new international routes

The eastern Chinese city of Fuzhou is offering the country’s airlines subsidies of at least CNY300,000 (US$44,000) per flight on new routes to most North America destinations as part of a broad effort to support carriers using its airport. Services on new intercontinental routes to nearer destinations will be eligible for subsidies of at least CNY200,000 per flight, according to a policy document for 2019 the city released Jan 15. Like other Chinese cities, Fuzhou is willing to help pay for additional direct domestic flights to economically important destinations—in this case, CNY30,000 per flight to Beijing, Guangzhou and Chengdu. The subsidy of at least CNY300,000 per flight is available for new intercontinental routes of more than 10,000 km, which excludes Australian and European destinations except Spain. <br/>