Airlines keep capacity tight despite boom in China travel demand

The world’s airlines are taking a cautious approach to China’s reopening, reluctant to immediately change up schedules and divert planes from other routes despite the internal pent-up demand for international travel. Scheduled flights into China during January, February and March are up no more than 2.9% this week compared to last week, according to aviation data provider Cirium. That’s fewer than 100 more flights each month. Planned inbound services for the remainder of the year are little changed — a sign China’s relaxation of quarantine restrictions from Jan. 8 are yet to convince airlines to make significant changes to their timetables. “I don’t think airlines will shift capacity from what they’re doing now in China,” Subhas Menon, director general of the Association for Asia Pacific Airlines, said. Most will rather wait to assess the situation, with Hong Kong, which also recently did away with many Covid restrictions, being a useful testbed, he said. Carriers’ lukewarm reaction to news China will from early next year no longer subject inbound travelers to quarantine doesn’t chime with the intense desire for overseas travel from people living in Asia’s biggest economy, most of whom have all but been locked in for the past three years. Prior to the pandemic, China had a massive outbound travel market. Mainland residents reacted swiftly to Monday’s news with bookings for outbound flights surging by 254% on Tuesday morning versus the same period the day prior, Trip.com Group Ltd. data show. The top five destinations were Singapore, South Korea, Hong Kong, Japan and Thailand. Flight bookings to Singapore jumped 600%, while bookings to the remaining four destinations soared around 400%. Airlines in those countries however weren’t rushing to add capacity.<br/>