Spring Airlines makes first int'l budget flight to Japan
- Source: Global Times
- [08:46 July 29 2010]
- Comments
The first international flight by Spring Airlines takes off from Pudong International Airport Wednesday. Photo: Xinhua
By Li Xiang
Spring Airlines became the first Chinese budget air carrier to launch an international route Wednesday when its flight from Shanghai Pudong International Airport to Japan's Ibaraki Airport took to the skies at 8:45 am.
A roundtrip on the route costs 3,470 yuan ($511.9) including tax, undercutting services linking Shanghai and Tokyo provided by carriers such as Air China, China Eastern Airlines and Japan Airlines.
Ibaraki Airport is located 80 kilometers from Tokyo, with a shuttle bus to the Japanese capital taking 85 minutes and costing around 400 yen ($4.6).
"Even taking in to account the bus fare, the trip to Tokyo with Spring Airlines is still way cheaper than the 1,990 yuan ($293.5) one-way trip with China Eastern, and the 2,350 yuan ($346.6) charged for a one-way trip by both Air China and Japan Airlines. And those prices don't include tax," Wu Zeping, a Chinese graduate student at Waseda University in Tokyo, told the Global Times.
The route from Shanghai to Ibaraki is operated as a charter flight every Monday, Wednesday and Saturday, with tickets only available through Spring Travel Services, the airline's sister company. No booking information could be found on the airline's website yesterday, although it did carry an announcement of the route's opening.
"The route is under review by both Chinese and Japanese civil aviation authorities," Zhang Wu'an, a spokesman for Spring Airlines, told the Global Times Wednesday. According to the airline's press release, the route is expected to have a fixed schedule around October.
Zhang said that using smaller airports further away from main destinations allowed China Spring Airlines to avoid competing with State-owned and cash-rich air carriers over premium airport spots. "This is the reason that we have to use smaller airports in our overseas expansion, so that we can make ourselves stronger as well as avoid fierce battles with competitors."
The airline is seeking out more international routes.
"We are negotiating with many other overseas airports, among which, a dozen in Japan and South Korea have shown interest in opening routes to Shanghai, including airports in Kitakyushu and Hokkaido in Japan and Jeju in South Korea," Zhang added.
