Airfare Cheaper Than Coffee Price... China's Aviation Industry Last-Ditch Effort

[Asia Economy Beijing=Special Correspondent Park Sun-mi] Airline tickets cheaper than a cup of Starbucks coffee at 5,000 won. The Chinese aviation industry, which has seen a sharp drop in passengers due to the spread of COVID-19, is maintaining an emergency management system with airline tickets cheaper than the price of coffee.

According to Chinese online travel booking platforms such as Feizhu on the 27th, domestic one-way airline ticket prices in China have plummeted due to a sharp decline in traveler demand caused by the spread of COVID-19. The price for a ticket to fly about 1,400 km from Shanghai to Chongqing is between 49 and 59 yuan (approximately 8,000 to 10,000 won).

The one-way ticket price for traveling over 1,600 km from Shanghai to Harbin in Heilongjiang Province in northern China is also set at around 69 yuan.

The Hong Kong South China Morning Post (SCMP) reported that when using low-cost airlines, the lowest ticket price for the Shanghai-Chongqing route is only 29 yuan, cheaper than a cup of coffee, and for the Shenzhen-Chongqing route, tickets can be purchased for about 100 yuan, which is about 5% of the base price of 1,940 yuan. Tickets for the over 1,300 km distance from Shenzhen to Chengdu are also priced at around 100 yuan.

Due to the spread of COVID-19, the Chinese aviation industry is bearing financial losses caused by airline ticket cancellations. SCMP reported that during the month of February, more than two-thirds of scheduled flights, about 10,000 flights daily, are being canceled.

Chinese aviation authorities are voicing that flight operations need to be normalized as soon as possible to restore economic activities, but passengers are reluctant to use airplanes due to concerns over the spread of COVID-19. During the Lunar New Year holiday period from January 25 to February 14, the average daily number of air passengers in China was only 470,000, a 75% decrease compared to the same period a year ago.