China Eastern Airlines to Add 100,000 Seats for Chinese Visitors to Melbourne Annually

A China Eastern Airlines jet flies over a temple before landing in Taipei on June 29, 2010. (Patrick Lin/AFP/Getty Images)

The Victorian Labor government has struck a deal with China Eastern Airlines to expand flights from Shanghai to Melbourne, in a bid to increase connections between the two cities.

This move comes after Qantas announced it would suspend its Sydney to Shanghai route from July 28, saying that demand has “not recovered as anticipated.”

The Allan government stated on June 7 that China Eastern Airlines will introduce extra non-stop flights from Shanghai Pudong International Airport and new flights from Nanjing Lukou International Airport in July.

Nanjing is the capital of Jiangsu Province, which has maintained a sister-state relationship with Victoria since 1979 under former Premier Rupert Hamer.

China Eastern Airlines, one of China’s three major state-owned airlines, has a 62 percent ownership stake by the Chinese regime.

The new flights expect to provide 100,000 extra seats for Chinese visitors each year, and offer about 3,650 tonnes of extra air freight export capacity annually.

On June 7, the Victorian government said the new flights will create more than 1,180 jobs and generate $205 million annually for the state’s economy.

“By supporting China Eastern Airlines to deliver extra flights to Victoria, we’re strengthening trade and tourism ties with our biggest trading partner and creating more jobs in our aviation and tourism industries,” said Minister for Jobs and Industry Natalie Hutchins in a media release.

Meanwhile, Jim Young, China Eastern Airlines General Manager of Marketing & Sales Oceania, expected the move to “significantly contribute to China Eastern Airlines’ continued growth and stability within the Australian, particularly Victorian, aviation market.”

“This represents a significant moment for us,” he added.

China Eastern Airlines has also formed a joint venture with Etihad Airways to grow the routes between UAE and China from early 2025. This is the first partnership between commercial airlines in the Middle East and China.

Declining Demand For Australia-China Flights

This expansion comes less than a month after Qantas cancelled its direct flights from Sydney to Shanghai, with the company’s International chief executive Cam Walle saying planes to and from China had been half full.

“Since COVID, the demand for travel between Australia and China has not recovered as strongly as expected,” he said.

“In some months, our flights to and from Shanghai have been operating around half full.”

Customers can continue to travel to Shanghai and other destinations in China on Qantas flights to Hong Kong, with onward connections on partner airlines.

The last direct flight from Sydney to China’s financial hub will be replaced by a new international route between Brisbane and Manila, which will operate four days each week.

The number of Chinese flights to Australia has dropped by 30 percent compared to pre-pandemic numbers as of August 2023, data from Tourism Australia shows.

The number of Chinese visitors has also more than halved compared to pre-COVID-19, from 124,370 in March 2019 to 58,240 in March 2024, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics.

Meanwhile, Southeast Asia has become a more popular destination for price-conscious Chinese tourists due to its cheaper costs and proximity to home.

China’s economy has been hitting an economic weak point, following the pandemic and Beijing’s zero-COVID policies, including worsened deflation pressures, spiralling debts, low confidence for the private sectors, property downturn, and waves of foreign investment exiting the country.