Singapore Airlines has been granted approval for a seven-times-weekly service between Singapore and Hangzhou, according to an announcement from the Civil Aviation Authrority of China (CAAC).

Singapore Airlines now only flies to three major cities in Mainland China: Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou. Its low-cost subsidiary airline Scoot also operates a six-times-weekly (no flights on Thursdays) service between Singapore and Hangzhou using a Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner.

Lufthansa has gained approval to launch a new three-times-weekly service between Munich and Shenzhen. This will be the German flag carrier’s sixth destination in Mainland China after Beijing, Shanghai, Nanjing, Qingdao and Shenyang.

Shenzhen (Cre: Internet).

Egypt Air is will launch a new twice weekly route linking Cairo and Shenzhen. The airline’s current destinations in Mainland China include Beijing, Guangzhou and Hangzhou.

The CAAC also approved South Korean low-cost airline Eastar Jet’s seven-times-weekly service between Seoul and Yantai in Shandong Province; Aeroflot’s new five-times-weekly Krasnoyarsk-Beijing service; and Russian charter carrier I-fly’s new service between Vladivostok and Nanjing, as well as its new routes linking Sochi and Kunming, Shijiazhuang, Jinan, Wuhan.

However, it should be noted that while the CAAC has approved these new routes, the launch date, aircraft to be used on the new routes, and more detailed flight schedules remain unknown.

Other airlines’ new routes to China 

Many airlines around the world are adding flights to China in a bid to tap into the rising demand for air travel among the country’s growing middle class.

Business Traveller Asia-Pacific reported in November that Vietnam Airlines had recently added two new routes from Vietnam to Shenzhen, and earlier this year, Hainan Airlines launched a non-stop service connecting Rome and Shenzhen.

VNA launches flights to China’s Shenzhen (Cre: VNA’s branch in China).

Turkish Airlines will also introduce a new service between Istanbul and Xian, the capital city of Shanxi Province. The airline announced the launch of this route in mid-November and it plans to launch the first flight at the end of this year.

Japan Airlines and Korean Air, the flag carriers of Japan and South Korea respectively, have also both recently announced new routes to China.

Cre: businesstraveller

Nguyen Mai Huong-COMM