The Flying Kangaroo, Qantas, has hopped back on over to Beijing for the first time in eight years after recommencing daily flights to the city earlier this week.
The great financial crisis forced Qantas to scrap flights to the Chinese city back in 2009, however, a recent boom in travel between Australia and the Asian nation has created an opportunity for the airline to resume services and increase its share of the major market.
Resuming flights on Wednesday, Beijing becomes Qantas’ third destination in Greater China, joining Shanghai and Hong Kong.
The carrier’s CEO, Alan Joyce, said the 12-hour route will take Qantas’ long history of serving China into a new era and help reach the airline’s goal to make the Beijing service “a flagship corridor four tourism and trade”.
“It’s the perfect time for Qantas to fly to Beijing. The China-Australia Free Trade Agreement is hitting its stride and China is on track to become the number one source of visitors to Australia within the next year or so.”
Alan Joyce, Qantas CEO
He continued, saying that the message to Chinese travellers will be that there’s no better way of getting to know Australia than through its national carrier.
Qantas’ Beijing flights will operate to Beijing Capital International Airport Terminal 3 via the A330-200 aircraft.
The Flying Kangaroo returns to Beijing just as Virgin Australia plans its first services to the city and Hong Kong.
Meanwhile, Qantas has revealed that after purchasing its Boeing 787-9 Dreamliners, it will look at buying either Boeing 777Xs or A350s to operate on ultra long haul services such as the forthcoming Perth-London flight and potential Sydney-New York service.
A spokesperson said that the two routes were “very much on the airline’s radar” but would require aircraft with longer flight range.
They could end up setting the carrier back by some $400 million each.
