Strategic Get Green Light for Chinese Expansion

Australian carrier Strategic Airlines has received approval from the International Air Services Commission (IASC) to launch flights to China and will begin preparation work for the launch of flights during the second half of this year. The company now has rights to introduce links to USA and China during what will be an exciting six month period in its development.

Executives at Strategic Airlines remain tight-lipped over its operational plans although it has been suggested that they are looking initially at a three times weekly link between Brisbane and either Beijing or Shanghai. It applied for 1,911 seats per week and plans to fully utilise this capacity by August 31, 2012.

An estimated 1.42 million O&D passengers travelled between Australia and China in the past year, a massive 28.7 per cent growth over the previous 12 months, but there is already competition from Brisbane with China Southern Airlines offering a link to Guangzhou. Air China, China Eastern and Qantas also fly between Australia and China but don’t offering direct services from Brisbane.

Strategic Airlines will also shortly confirm its plans for the US market and as predicted by The HUB earlier this year, Honolulu in Hawaii will be its first destination. Although the carrier has not made any formal announcement, it has made a supplementary filing with the US DOT detailing the Brisbane – Honolulu route with plans to launch services from September.