The wait time for Qantas passengers is about to get a lot shorter thanks to the airline’s expanded partnership with China Eastern.
From 1 November this year, Qantas and China Eastern will offer travellers shorter transit times, more code share options and greater frequent flyer benefits when travelling between Australia and China.
The two will also co-locate their operations in Terminal 1 at Shanghai Pudong International Airport. This will give customers streamlined check in facilities, access to China Eastern’s new lounge facility* and improved connection times in the partnership’s Shanghai hub.
Co-location will also allow customers to more easily connect to 67 Qantas codeshare services operated by China Eastern, including new destinations such as Changchun, Jinan and Wuhan. This takes Qantas’ intra-China offering from 11 to 18 markets and provides more than 400 services per week that connect within four hours to other destinations beyond the partnership’s main hub.
Qantas International CEO Gareth Evans said the new agreement supports the growing number of customers travelling between Australia and China.
“Co-location… makes it easy for our customers to connect beyond Shanghai to the rest of China, and from cities across China through to Australia.”
Gareth Evans, Qantas International CEO
“Aviation is opening up new travel and business opportunities at a time when the Australia-China relationship is more important than ever to both countries.
“We see huge potential for this expanded partnership with China Eastern as tourist numbers grow and the China-Australia free trade agreement is finalised.
“It’s an exciting time for Qantas International. We’re using our aircraft more efficiently and adding capacity to meet demand for travel to destinations across the Asia-Pacific, while expanding strategic partnerships to give our customers a bigger network. Working more closely with China Eastern is vital part of this strategy.”
From 1 November 2015, under the new agreement Qantas customers will also have new travel options between Australia and Shanghai, including codeshare bookings on China Eastern’s double daily Sydney – Shanghai services and double daily Melbourne – Shanghai services.
These services are complemented by Qantas’ existing codeshare on China Eastern’s Sydney Nanjing – Beijing services and new year-round Brisbane-Shanghai services beginning in November 2016.
