Melbourne Gains New China Links

Air China has announced that it will up its its four weekly services to daily between Shanghai Pudong, Beijing and Melbourne, from October.

Plus, the carrier has decided to introduce a direct service between Beijing and Melbourne, starting in December. Air China will become the sole direct carrier on the Beijing-Melbourne route.

Melbourne airport's CEO, said: "Our Chinese market grew 8.6% over the last calendar year and these new flights will directly serve this pivotal growth market.

"This additional capacity will help service this growth with an extra 78,000 seats to and from Melbourne."

Melbourne is also set to benefit from capacity increases from China Southern Airlines, which ill increase its services between Melbourne and Guangzhou to daily operations from October.