China and New Zealand expand bilateral air treaty
Saturday, 29 Mar, 2017
0
China and New Zealand have expanded their bilateral air treaty allowing Chinese airlines to operate 59 flights a week between the two countries.
It boosts the current agreement by 10 flights a week and may be further expanded over time if demand continues to grow.
The New Zealand government is also open to an eventual Open Skies policy with China, transport minister Simon Bridges said.
"China is our second largest source of visitors after Australia, so it’s important that we have the appropriate agreements in place to support this," Bridges said in a release.
"The amendment will also allow additional airlines to enter the market, ensuring a competitive environment that will benefit New Zealand and Chinese travellers."
Chinese arrivals grew 12% in 2016 to 421,000 visitors.
Air China, China Eastern, China Southern, Hainan Airlines and Tianjin Airlines already operate scheduled services to New Zealand with Sichuan Airlines beginning Auckland-Chengdu flights in June.
Flag carrier Air New Zealand, which operates a solitary route to Shanghai, says competition from Chinese carriers has hurts its business.
"In Asia we certainly experienced weaker performance than we had hoped in the period. Overall, the new capacity introduced by carriers in China and Hong Kong was just too much for the market to absorb and we saw this manifest itself in RASK declines in the first half," CEO Christopher Luxon said during an earnings call last month.
China and Australia established an unlimited capacity Open Skies agreement late last year.
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Editor for TravelMole North America and Asia pacific regions. Ray is a highly experienced (15+ years) skilled journalist and editor predominantly in travel, hospitality and lifestyle working with a huge number of major market-leading brands. He has also cover in-depth news, interviews and features in general business, finance, tech and geopolitical issues for a select few major news outlets and publishers.
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