Western airlines are slashing flights to China as a combination of low demand and the high cost of flying around Russian airspace saps their ability to compete with local carriers.
British Airways this month said it would suspend flights between London and Beijing from October, just weeks after Virgin Atlantic decided to pull its only China route, to Shanghai. Though unaffected by the Russian airspace ban, Australia’s Qantas plans to cut its Sydney-to-Shanghai route, saying its planes have at times flown half-empty.
The retreat signals a change in attitude by some of the world’s leading airlines towards China amid slowing Chinese economic growth and geopolitical tensions between Beijing and the US and its allies.