Lure of the Danube and Sagrada Familia

Chinese airlines and other international carriers are putting on more flights from China to Europe

Air China has added a route that links Beijing with Vienna and Barcelona, the latest move in a travel industry push to cash in on the increasing cultural connections between China and Europe.

An Airbus A330-300 will fly between the three cities four times a week, bringing 23 Air China routes to Europe, and reaching 19 cities on the continent.

There had been no direct flights linking Barcelona and Beijing, Air China says.

Ni Jian, who works for an Austrian company in Beijing, says that to get to Vienna he used to transfer in Frankfurt.

"The new flight will save me two hours, and I find its time schedule suits me best because it leaves at night and arrives in the morning. I can save the daytime for work."

Air China says it will also begin operating flights between Shanghai and Munich on June 6. Last year, the airline began flights between Beijing and Geneva.

China Southern said last month that it will start operating flights between Guangzhou, Changsha and Frankfurt this year. German company Lufthansa has said it will add a daily Boeing 747-400 flight between Shanghai and Frankfurt from May 9. It began flying Airbus A380s daily between Shanghai and Frankfurt last year. Earlier, Air France had put the Airbus A380 into service between Shanghai and Paris.

The addition of flights from China to Europe coincides with a forecast by the International Air Transport Association that demand for international air passenger transport will rise 4.7 percent in Europe this year.

For Chinese carriers, Europe is important in their search for new opportunities, says He Zhigang, general manager of the marketing department of Air China.

The great rise in the number of Chinese traveling to Europe as tourists is a key reason for the new flights, he says.

Air China had direct flights between Beijing and Vienna 22 years ago, but they stopped after two years because of a lack of patronage, He says.

Zhao Bin, China's ambassador to Austria, said at a ceremony marking the opening of the new service in Vienna on May 6 that more than 400,000 Chinese visited Austria last year.

Julian Jager, chief operating officer of Vienna International Airport, says he expects that number to double in five years.

On the inaugural Beijing-Vienna-Barcelona flight on May 5 were at least two Chinese tour groups heading for Spain.

Wang Yingpo of Caissa Travel Service in Beijing, who was leading a group of 12 on an 11-day tour, says he has seen the market evolve. Ten years ago, Europe was a destination reserved for few Chinese, many of them nouveaux riches, but now it has become affordable for many more Chinese, he says.

"I can't say exactly what the figures are, but over the past decade our company has kept on employing more people to take tour groups to Europe. Even that has not reduced the workload of individual employees."

He of Air China says the increasing number of Chinese traveling to Europe as tourists is partly due to more wanting to visit places rich in culture and the arts.

Chinese widely identify Vienna as capital of classical music, and Barcelona as a venue for tourist activities and sports events, he says.

As Chinese tourists expand their scope for travel, the airline will consider opening new services to Eastern Europe, he says.

xindingding@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily European Weekly 05/09/2014 page23)