 "Chinese airlines expand India flights")
Chinese airlines are expanding capacity on Indian routes with new direct flights and deployment of wide body planes.
On Monday Air China launched direct flight between Mumbai-Beijing with a Airbus A330 aircraft which can seat over 300 passengers in three class configuration.
This flight replaces its Mumbai-Shanghai service which was operated with narrow body Airbus A319 aircraft.
Also from December 9 China Southern Airlines will operate a Boeing 787 aircraft on one of its two daily Guangzhou-Delhi flights. Currently the airline operates two narrow body Boeing 737s on this route.
Growth in trade and tourism links is said to be the reason behind expansion of capacity from Chinese airlines. Also airlines including Air China offer onward connections to destinations in the US and Canada.
Over 7.4 lakh passengers travelled between India and China in FY 15 with 44 percent of them flying from Delhi and 22 percent from Mumbai. Cathay Pacific is the market leader in the India-China market with 20 percent share. Passengers travelling Cathay Pacific travel to China via Hong Kong.
Delhi is served by three Chinese airlines at present - Air China, China Eastern Airlines and China Southern Airlines. Shandong Airlines of China is also planning to offer service between Kunming and Delhi.
Amongst the Indian airlines only Air India flies to Shanghai four times a week from Delhi.
"We see tourism and trade as the growth drivers for air traffic between India and China. The number of Chinese tourists visiting in India has been low because of visa restrictions but we hope it will increase now with the introduction of e-visa scheme. Also trade and industrial exhibitions in China are an attraction for Indian companies and we see a lot of Indian businessmen visiting the country," said Subhash Goyal, chairperson of Stic Travel Group.