Spring Airlines to launch service on lucrative Beijing-Shanghai sector

Spring Airlines has received rights to operate on the lucrative Beijing-Shanghai sector and plans to launch daily service as early as the end of Sep-2011 (Shanghai Daily/shanghaiis, 17-Aug-2011). The carrier plans to offer fares from CNY199 (USD31) one way, with special tickets to account for at least 10% of total tickets. Spring Airlines chairman Wang Zhenghua stated in the first stage, it will operate daily between the two cities. He said the airline is restricted to one service on the route due to the large number of services offered by other carriers. At present, Air China, China Eastern, Shanghai Airlines, Hainan Airlines and China Southern Airlines operate between Beijing Capital and/or Shanghai Pudong and Shanghai Hongqiao with around 90,000 weekly seats at present, according to CAPA/Innovata data. Air China and China Eastern operate one flight every half hour on the route. However, Mr Wang stated the carrier plans to increase frequency in the future.