Shanghai based China Eastern announced this week that it will begin services to Rome, its fifth destination in Europe. The Hub takes a closer look at this move.
China Eastern will begin services from its Shanghai Pudong hub to Rome Fiumicino. Beginning summer 2011, it will inaugurate non-stop services from March 29th and will be operated thrice- weekly with A340-300 equipment.
China Eastern currently operates scheduled services to Europe to four other destinations, with routes to London Heathrow, Paris Charles de Gaulle, Frankfurt and Moscow Sheremetyevo.
ITALY TO CHINA MARKET
The Rome to Shanghai market saw just over 37,000 O+D passengers travel between July 2009 and 2010, with Emirates carrying 18% of this traffic via Dubai. The wider Rome to China market saw just over 149,000 O+D passengers fly in the same time period with 37% travelling on the non-stop Air China, Rome to Beijing service.
Interestingly, over 538,000 passengers travelled from Italy to China during the same period, a market where China Eastern will be hoping to gain significant market share, particularly given that just over 141,000 passengers flew on non-stop services (Source IATA BSP data July 2009-July 2010)
Earlier this month, Italy and China signed a number of economic partnerships, aimed at more than doubling their current 28 billion Euro trade, to over 72 million by 2015. They signed a total of ten economic and commercial agreements.
With the growth in traffic and measures to improve commerce between the two countries, China Eastern will be well positioned to lift the increased volume in passenger numbers.
CHINA TO EUROPE MARKET
China Eastern will also seek to gain increased market share of the Europe to China market. Between July 2005 and 2006, just over 5.2 million O+D passengers travelled between Europe and China, in the same period between 2009 and 2010, the number had increased to just over 6 million. The market share is listed by carrier in the table below;
|
Carrier |
Passenger Numbers (Two-Way) July 2009-July 2010 |
Market Share |
|
Air China |
1,223, 924 |
20% |
|
Lufthansa |
818,667 |
14% |
|
Air France |
514,064 |
9% |
|
KLM |
490,838 |
8% |
|
China Eastern |
303,110 |
5% |
|
Aeroflot |
292,290 |
5% |
|
Hainan Airlines |
288,260 |
5% |
|
Emirates |
270,288 |
5% |
|
Finnair |
269,739 |
4% |
|
China Southern |
247,778 |
4% |
|
Others |
1,325,896 |
21% |
|
Total |
6,044,854 |
100% |
Source IATA BSP data (Airport IS) July 2009-July 2010
China Eastern will hope to be integrated into the SkyTeam alliance by April 2011 and its services to Rome be boosted with the connectivity that fellow SkyTeam partner Alitalia will bring in Rome, with a widespread European network offering significant opportunities for Shanghai originating passengers. The period between July 2009 and July 2010, saw over 2.3 million O+D passengers fly between Shanghai and Europe with just over 1 million passengers travelling on non-stop routes, highlighting the opportunity for Alitalia to connect China Eastern passengers into Europe.
Rome has traditionally been one of the main centres for the Chinese diaspora in Europe, as well as being a huge tourism attraction meaning there is potential for VFR, leisure and business traffic on the route. The fashion and footwear industries offer the main industrial connections between the Chinese community and Italy and back in China. China Eastern will also seek to draw upon the large Italian community in Australia and fill its growing network in Europe and Australia.
Related Content
