China Eastern Airlines Expands Service between Shanghai and Sydney in Response to Growing Demand

China Eastern Airlines, based in Shanghai, will boost its daily service between the two cities to 11 times weekly starting on 23rd June in response to the growing demand for services between Shanghai Pudong International Airport (PVG) and Sydney Kingsford Smith International Airport (SYD). Sydney residents were happy with China Eastern’s decision to switch to daily operations starting on 2nd February of this year.

The airline currently uses its cutting-edge Airbus A350-900 to run a daily service between PVG and SYD. However, the Boeing 777 will make the extra services possible.

11 weekly services will begin on Sunday, 24th July, and will run as follows:

Existing service (operated by an Airbus A350-900)

• MU562, departing from Sydney Kingsford Smith International Airport (SYD) at 11:00, arriving at Shanghai Pudong International Airport (PVG) at 19:15
• MU561, departing from PVG at 20:45, arriving at SYD at 09:00 the next day

Additional flights, departing in the north on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays, and Sundays (operated by a Boeing 777):

• MU736, departing from SYD at 20:30, arriving at PVG at 05:15 the next day
• MU735, departing from PVG at 00:10, arriving at SYD at 12:35

The airline’s website states that flights MU562 and MU561 will offer three service classes, including Economy, Premium, and Business, whereas flights MU736 and MU735 will only offer two service classes, Economy and Business. According to Flightradar24.com, the airline last operated MU736 out of Sydney on 2nd October. MU736 was once carried out by the airline’s Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner. The airline once served Sydney up to twice daily.

China’s zero-COVID policy is now history, as Simple Flying previously noted, and demand is accelerating. China Southern has expanded its capacity between Sydney and Guangzhou since February of this year, and as of 26th March, up to ten weekly services are being offered. On 3rd February, Air China restarted service in Sydney, beginning with three weekly flights.

Up to 1.4 million visitors from China spent up to AU$ 12.4 billion ($8.37 million) annually, making them the country’s largest source of pre-pandemic tourism spending. Chinese flights into Melbourne, for example, peaked at 70 per week before COVID-19 placed the brakes on international aviation.

The China International Capital Corporation (CICC) forecasts that financial recovery for the Chinese big three may “might be faster than market expectations.” The CICC expects international and regional operations to return to at least 60% of pre-2019 levels this year. By the end of this year, the Civil Aviation Administration of China hopes to have at least 460 million passenger journeys returned to pre-pandemic levels. This is in contrast to China, where travel will only account for 252 million passenger journeys by 2022.

The delivery of aircraft will also contribute to the recovery effort; China Eastern and China Southern have announced that they will resume Boeing 737 MAX deliveries. Following two tragic crashes involving the MAX versions in 2019 last week, the Chinese government once again gave the carriers permission to accept deliveries of the kind.