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Australia has its first connections to Beijing’s new Daxing Airport, with China Southern beginning services from Sydney and Melbourne.
The airline, one of China’s “Big Four”, is flying four times per week from Sydney and three times per week from Melbourne using A330 aircraft, both for 10-week seasons. Daxing is Beijing’s newer international airport, and the city’s second alongside Beijing Capital.
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Jim Parashos, Melbourne Airport’s chief of aviation, said the new route to the centrally-located Daxing Airport will “provide passengers with easy access to key business and cultural centres in northern China”.
“While our international market has well and truly moved from recovery to growth, we are now starting to see the Chinese market recovery gain pace with capacity now back above pre-pandemic levels and passenger levels climbing,” Parashos said.
“The added competition we have brought into the international market has delivered customers choice and value which, despite cost-of-living pressures, people are embracing.
“To cater for our passenger growth, we are upgrading infrastructure across the airport. This includes working closely with Australian Border Force to deliver more kiosks in international arrivals as our current allocation is insufficient to cope with growing demand.”
Beijing Daxing, which opened in 2019, is located to the city’s south in the middle of Beijing, Tianjin and Xiong’an, and complements Beijing Capital Airport, still the main international gateway for the Chinese capital.
Speaking in October, Sydney Airport’s group executive for aviation growth and group strategy, Greg Botham, said the Daxing service “marks another step in [the airport’s] commitment to improving connectivity with mainland China”.
“With the market recovering to nearly 90 per cent in the first half of 2024 and peaking at a remarkable 97 per cent in July, these new flights will not only add much-needed capacity, but also provide a strong impetus for further recovery, reinforcing Sydney’s position as the premier gateway for traffic to and from China.”
Sydney is the largest gateway between Australia and mainland China, with 49 per cent of passengers in the 12 months to June 2024.
The airport is currently served by Air China, Beijing Capital Airlines, China Eastern Airlines, China Southern Airlines, Hainan Airlines, Sichuan Airlines, Tianjin Airlines, and Xiamen Airlines, with Juneyao Air also beginning services this month.
