In terms of new airlines, fresh routes and capacity increases, has there been a busier hub of late than Perth Airport?
Most recently, the gateway to Western Australia (and the western gateway to Australia) announced the return of one of the world’s biggest carriers, China Eastern Airlines, who will launch a seasonal service between Perth Airport (PER) and Shanghai Pudong International Airport (PVG).
The Shanghai-based carrier’s comeback also marks the return of a direct link between WA and mainland China after a nearly four-year absence.
Utilising its A330-200, China Eastern will operate three flights per week on the route over the Chinese New Year period between 20 January and 18 February 2024. Tickets are expected to go on sale shortly.
“We are delighted to see China Eastern Airlines back in Perth adding more seats to the market during this busy holiday period,” said Perth Airport Acting CEO Kate Holsgrove, who was yesterday replaced by new PER CEO Jason Waters.
Holsgrove said the new service gives Western Australians the perfect chance to experience CNY celebrations in Shanghai. It will also bring a welcome boost to WA tourism.
“Back in 2019, Western Australia catered for 67,000 Chinese visitors who spent $283 million in our economy – including our important tourism and retail businesses,” she said.
“With the impact of COVID and no current direct flights to mainland China this has dropped to 19,000 visitors who spent $78 million in visitor expenditure – this drop shows how important the Chinese visitor market is to Western Australia.”
China Eastern Airlines operated a trial service between Perth Airport and Shanghai in January 2020 before the COVID pandemic forced its termination.
“A direct aviation connection to China offers great potential for both tourism and business in Western Australia,” Holsgrove said.
“We look forward to building a strong partnership with China Eastern Airlines to ensure the success of this service so we can look for other opportunities with this important airline partner.”
Flights MU7389 and MU7390 will operate on Monday, Thursday and Saturday, arriving in Perth at 10am. Flights will depart WA at 12.30pm.
New KL connection
Perth Airport also announced that AirAsia Berhad (AK) would commence services at the hub, with Perth-Kuala Lumpur flights to launch in March 2024.
Utilising its 236-seater A321 neo aircraft on the route, the new flights will add to AirAsia X’s A330 Perth-KL service and Indonesia AirAsia’s Perth-Denpasar (Bali) and Jakarta services.
“Malaysia is Western Australia’s fifth biggest international visitor market, injecting $88 million into the WA economy in visitor expenditure for the year ending in June,” Holsgrove remarked.
“Malaysia is also a popular holiday destination and, combined with a large number of passengers also visiting friends and relatives, will continue to be an important market for outbound visitation.
“We’ve got strong business, education, trade and tourism links with Malaysia and this new non-stop service provides further opportunities.”
Singapore boost
Meanwhile, Singapore Airlines announced a boost to capacity between Perth and Changi Airport, with a new four-times-weekly service from tomorrow adding to the current three-times-daily service out of the WA capital.
The extra flights (SQ213 and SQ226) will then be upgraded to a fourth daily service ex-PER from 31 March 2024.
“The airline’s fourth daily flight will use an Airbus A350-900 which offers 303 seats (40 business and 263 Economy) bringing 220,584 more seats to the Perth market annually,” Holsgrove said.
“The introduction of its fourth daily service is another significant milestone for Singapore Airlines and highlights the commitment the airline has to the Perth and Western Australian market.”
Singapore Airlines Regional Vice President South West Pacific Louis Arul said the new services would “provide even more options for West Australians to travel to multiple cities in Asia, Europe and the USA via our Singapore hub”.
Last week, Jetstar shared plans to markedly grow its operations from Perth in 2024, introducing new non-stop flights to Singapore, Phuket and Bangkok.
Low-cost carrier Vietjet also commenced the first-ever service between Perth and Vietnam on 22 November.
Perhaps most excitedly, Qantas announced that the first nonstop flights between Australia and France (Perth and Paris) would kick off on 12 July next year.
