China Eastern Airlines has partnered with compatriot China Southern Airlines for what it calls a cross-airline passenger transfer service on flights between Beijing’s Daxing airport and Guangzhou.
The service – believed to be the first of its kind among Chinese domestic operators – will allow for passengers on the route to “voluntarily” switch flights between the two carriers on the route, subject to transfer conditions.
China Eastern says: “This is an innovative practice…to improve the level of domestic operations. It will further promote air links between the two [hubs] and provide passengers with more convenient, efficient and flexible travel options.”
China Southern and China Eastern both have an operating base at Daxing airport, while China Southern’s main operating hub is at Guangzhou.
The two carriers take the lion’s share of capacity on the route, operating 42 out of 48 flights daily. According to domestic travel data, the route saw just over 3 million passengers in 2024.
Separately, China Eastern has outlined plans for the upcoming Lunar New Year travel season, which it believes will see “rapid growth”, with capacity about 3% higher than 2019’s holiday period. The eight-day holiday is one of the peak travel periods in Mainland China.
On the domestic front, the SkyTeam carrier will increase capacity on what it terms “home-coming” routes – flights from metro cities to second- and third-tier cities – and on flights to tourist hotspots. On domestic trunk routes – like Beijing-Shanghai and Shanghai-Guangzhou – China Eastern says it will cut back capacity and transfer it to its second- and third-tier operations.
China Eastern also reports “healthy” forward bookings for international flights to Australia, Japan and South Korea during the Lunar New Year holidays.
