Airlines face hurdles to cashing in on China re-opening
Many airlines parked large planes when international traffic plunged and production of new jets has been limited
U.S. and European airlines will benefit from pent-up demand for travel to China after its recent border reopening, but route approvals, fresh COVID-19 testing rules and not enough large aircraft remain barriers to rising sales, analysts and industry officials say.
Key takeaways
- Airfares from China are now 160% higher than before the pandemic, data from travel firm ForwardKeys shows, due to limited supply;
- Global airlines are running only 11% of 2019 capacity levels to and from China in January;
- Expedia saw U.S.-China and Europe-China searches double after the reopening announcement.
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