Chinese airlines to resume direct flights from Australia's Brisbane to southern China

SYDNEY - China Southern Airlines will resume direct flights from Australia's Brisbane to South China's Guangzhou in mid-November to boost tourism and personnel exchanges between the two countries.

The airlines will start to fly four non-stop services a week from Nov 17, its fourth direct flight route between the two countries, said the airlines on Sunday.

The Queensland government expects the airlines to land 59,000 inbound seats at Brisbane International Airport in the first year of operation, and almost 278,000 inbound international seats over three years, generating nearly 441 million Australian dollars ($286.7 million) for the state's visitor economy.

In 2019 before the pandemic, China was Queensland's leading source of international visitors with 497,000 Chinese travelers contributing just over 1.61 billion Australian dollars ($1.05 billion) in overnight visitor expenditure, according to the Queensland government.

CEO for Australia-China Business Council Queensland Elizabeth Sullivan said the return of these flights is hugely important for facilitating two-way direct people-to-people links, particularly for those in the trade and investment space, and across the broader community, including in tourism and education.