China Eastern Airlines looks to boost US capacity
China Eastern Airlines hopes to boost capacity on China-US routes by up to 50% this year.
Chief executive Ma Xulun said he wants to take advantage of the added exposure for tourism between the two nations in 2016, which is designated China-US tourism year.
"Air travel between the two countries is expected to rise to more than five million this year, with about 3 million being US-bound from China. We have great confidence in the market and hope to capture as much of this opportunity as possible," Ma said.
China Eastern carried 1.12 million passengers on China-US routes last year and Dong Bo, chief marketing officer, said: "Our capacity increase in 2016 will be about 50%."
The airlines said all its US routes made money and New York and Los Angeles flights were among the most profitable routes in the network.
China Eastern is the third biggest carrier of China-US routes behind United Airlines and Air China.
Ma said it will grow capacity to match Air China’s this year and will strengthen its codeshare pact with partner Delta Air Lines.
Bev
Editor in chief Bev Fearis has been a travel journalist for 25 years. She started her career at Travel Weekly, where she became deputy news editor, before joining Business Traveller as deputy editor and launching the magazine’s website. She has also written travel features, news and expert comment for the Guardian, Observer, Times, Telegraph, Boundless and other consumer titles and was named one of the top 50 UK travel journalists by the Press Gazette.
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