China Might Finally Abolish Their "One Route, One Chinese Airline" Policy

I can't stand Chinese carriers. At least not the big ones. US carriers are a dream to fly over China Eastern (what I think is the worst airline on the planet due to smoking ). Hopefully this makes them shape up

You're wrong all along. Just take MU219 and CA935 for example.

@ kobe bryant -- PVG-FRA is one of the few markets with an exception.

@ kobe bryant I think CA is generally exempt from this policy (being the state carrier).

@Lucky
Somewhat on topic - I have an upcoming trip to PEK from Chicago that I'll be booking with ANA miles and my options are:

ORD - PEK via UA 777 2-4-2 business class

Or

ORD - LAX - PEK via Air China 787-9 business class.

Is it worth going to LAX to take Air China or would you just suck it up on the older UA "Polaris?"

Its the internal competition. Each flag airline was backed by some powerful guy behind the scenes. The proposal means some power has diminished or someone is trying to do so.

Its china. Think like one.

China State Airlines Find Out Home Is Where the Profits Are https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-08-27/china-s-state-owned-airlines-discover-home-is-where-the-money-is

Judging by current policies it will only make incumbent stronger though- which in most cases is Air China

China has to end this policy. They have a 2nd airport in Beijing coming. The policy has at least accomplished what is was supposed to. It limited competition for Air China and it turned CAN, PVG, SHA, PEK into strong hubs. But the policy has to end. It serves no purpose nowadays.
No country has such a policy. So there will be more competition.

I've thought Hainan Airlines is based in Haikou, Hainan. The capital city of the province of Hainan.
Visited the city some 30 times past 10 years and met some of the airline staff.

Also had the flights with several other local airlines. Happy to take these, at least for the short haul flights.

So is the airline really Beijing based?

@Nick: Always avoid United 2-4-2. Is Air Canada an option. I fly to China frequently from the US and the cheapest J fares are with a connection in Toronto.

Instead of a double connect on Hainan from Shanghai to NYC lasting 27 hours,
I would like Shanghai to Seattle on Hainan. Then Seattle to NYC on Alaska.
Or connect in Boston and take AA to NYC.

God....I would take almost any airline over an American carrier....let more Chinese airlines fly the routes to inject more competition.

It is a shame to see these pround chinese syate owned airlines quickly turning into capitalistic bottom feeder airlines like the us3

@Ryan: China Southern is different. A year ago my wife and I flew China Southersn (LAX to CAN, connecting to DAC). It was an A380 with decent legroom and IFE. My wife has asthma which usually flares up on long flights so we carry a nebulizer. She did not have to use it on China Southern and claimed it was the cleanest long haul flight ever (air quality). I still prefer SG and CX, but will continue to use CZ as long as their prices are competitive (actually ~$200 lower per ticket, so $400 savings for us). Only one major drawback: putting up with the occasional delays.

@Kirmo Wilén

Hainan's corporate headquarters are in Haikou and Haikou is a central hub for them, but the majority of their longhaul international flights operate from Beijing.

The Chinese government is going to allow competition instead of monopolies? OMG WHAT IS HAPPENING IN THE WORLD!!!

Hainan Airlines (HNA Group) is technically a private company though, different from those state-controlled ones.

It would be oversimplifying the situation of long haul flights flying to no-where in China. It is often a relatively cheap way for local government officials to display their work for appraisal under the Belt and Road initiative and it does bring faces to the officials and jobs to the local airport.
Even if the one route policy is to be abolished, second tier cities will not be having any fewer long haul routes soon. The handsome subsidy and the need to display the support for Belt and Road is real.

@Nick...Never fly 2-4-2... I would take 3 connections over a United 2-4-2.

@ Nick In Chicago

Since you're booking with ANA miles, why not take ANA flights then? Superior soft and hard products over the 2 choices you'd mentioned. Unless I'm missing something...

@notbad41 thank you for your input, I'm booking Air China after all.

Thank you,
Nick

Removing one route one airline policy only makes sense for China-USA routes.

YVR has exploded with access to secondary Chinese cities under this policy. Vancouver is the best city to catch a flight Anywhere in a China.

My home port of Calgary has YYC-PEK largely because HU can't get into YVR. Would HU shift flights to YVR-PEK if allowed? My guess would be yes. At a minimum The YYC route is toast as the aircraft could probably be deployed more profitably elsewhere.

I will go out on limb and say chine- Europe is a lot more like China-Canada than China-USA. It's better off forcing airlines to serve secondary markets beyond LHR, CDG, FRA, and AMS.

Kris Moen - Why exactly should China's priority be to give Vancouver access to loads of secondary Chinese cities?

It is important to remember that this policy does not apply to code share flights. For example, both United and Air China fly between PEK and SFO. Air China can sell seats on both it's flight and the United Flight. According to the rule, another Chinese airline cannot fly within that route, but if another route is taken by another Chinese carrier and they sell seats on a partner's flight, that is okay. The reason behind this, I think, is to make more Chinese airports and cities on the map.

@valium
It's the other way around...the small cities want access to Vancouver so they can show off that their local airport is so important that they have long haul flights to North America.