Spring Airlines leads Chinese LCCs' international expansion Part 1

This is Part 1 of a two part review of upcoming Chinese LCC international expansion, particularly in North and Southeast Asia. Part 2 will focus specifically on LCC market leader Spring Airlines.

Chinese low cost airlines are about to expand their role in international markets and compete more aggressively. Foreign LCCs have until now dominated China's fast growing international LCC market, currently accounting for nearly 75% of international LCC capacity in China. AirAsia/AirAsia X are the market leader, with a 28% share.

Eight Chinese LCCs now operate international services but five have three or fewer international destinations. Spring Airlines is the market leader by a wide margin and now has more than one quarter of its seats (and more than one third of its ASKs) in the international market (see Part 2 of this report).

While Spring is independent, most of China's LCCs are part of full service airline groups with the order books and strategic desire to accelerate international LCC expansion. For example, China Eastern recently stated it plans to accelerate international expansion at its LCC subsidiary China United Airlines using China United's new hub at the soon to be opened Beijing Daxing Airport.