From January 25th, Australia's national carrier Qantas will launch daily flights between Sydney and Beijing.
Services to and from the Chinese capital are highlighted as being the next step in the group's ongoing strategy to tap into the exceptional growth of the Australia-China travel market.
An Airbus A330-200 aircraft will operate into Beijing Capital International Airport for the new service - and return flights will be timed to connect with Qantas' domestic and trans-Tasman network.
This marks a return to the route for the first time since 2009 for Qantas. It makes Beijing the carrier's third destination in Greater China, joining existing daily return services to Shanghai and 28 return services a week to Hong Kong.
The move also represents part of the expansion of Qantas' joint venture partnership with China Eastern. This has led to the creation of three international codeshare routes between Australia and China - added under their strengthened agreement. These are Sydney to Hangzhou, Sydney to Kunming and Brisbane to Shanghai. China Eastern will codeshare on Qantas' new Beijing service.
Over 130 return services a week are now offered between Australia and China, including the codeshare services between Qantas, China Eastern and China Southern. These connect to a further 256 codeshare services a week on intra-China domestic routes.
Alan Joyce, chief executive officer of the Qantas Group, said the new route is the equivalent of an additional 3,300 seats a week between Australia and China.
"The tourism industry in Australia is very excited about what the Chinese market will deliver over the next few years, especially given it's already become our second biggest source of visitors after New Zealand," he said.
"Australia is now at the top of the wish list for Chinese travellers thinking about where they want to go next."
