China Southern Airlines on Wednesday made its maiden flight to Kenya’s Jomo Kenyatta International Airport, as it kicked off direct three-times weekly flights from Guangzhou-Nairobi using A330-200 aircraft. China is one of the key trading partners of Kenya, heavily investing in the East African nation’s infrastructure and energy sectors. “Chinese businesses such as Bank of China, Huawei, and Qingjian International are already operating successfully in Kenya and East African markets and we … [Read more...] about China Southern kicks off Nairobi service

Qingdao Airlines is set for a rebranding to Xinlong Air following plans to massively restructure its shareholding at the end of August. State-backed Qingdao Transport Development Group Co. announced plans to dispose of its 25 per cent stake for CNY251 million (US$40.4 million). Meanwhile, the airlines’s other shareholder Shandong Airlines has also announced plans to sell off its 20 per cent stake to New Nanshan International Holdings Ltd., a subsidiary of Xinlong’s largest shareholder, … [Read more...] about Qingdao Airlines to rebrand as Xinlong Air

Sichuan Airlines has announced it will expand its international network next month, with the launch of its first ever flights to the Middle East. From 4 September the airline will operate twice weekly flights from Chengdu, the capital of southwest China’s Sichuan province, to Dubai. The twice weekly flights utilising A330 aircraft will depart Chengdu’s Shuangliu International Airport twice weekly and will stop in Yinchuan, the capital of northwest China’s Ningxia region. Earlier on 5 August … [Read more...] about Sichuan Airlines to begin Dubai service in Sept

Air China will commence Beijing- Mumbai nonstop service on 25 October 2015. As the forthcoming only service from Mainland China to Mumbai - the economic capital of the country - the airline said the seven hour non-stop will negate the need for stopovers in Hong Kong, Singapore and Bangkok. As two BRICS countries, China and India have long had close political, economic and people exchanges and in recent years, inbound and outbound travelers of the two countries have been on the rise. From … [Read more...] about Air China continues expansion with Mumbai

Cathay Pacific Airways today released combined Cathay Pacific and Dragonair traffic figures for July 2015 continuing the trend of strong year-on-year growth in the number of passengers carried but only a marginal increase in the volume of cargo and mail uplifted. The two airlines carried 147,545 tonnes of cargo and mail in July, an increase of 0.5 per cent compared to the same month last year. The cargo and mail load factor fell by 2.9 percentage points to 61.8 per cent. Capacity, measured … [Read more...] about Marginal cargo growth continues for Cathay

Air China will start Beijing- Johannesburg nonstop service using B777-300ER aircraft from 29 October 2015, which will be the first air link offered by a Chinese carrier between Mainland China and South Africa and also Air China’s first route to Africa since the 1970s when it had one nonstop service to the continent. South Africa accounts for about one third of Africa’s GDP and is also China’s biggest trading partner in Africa. Currently, nearly 1.2 million Chinese live in South Africa and … [Read more...] about Air China to open two Africa routes