Southeast Asia's aviation recovery has been slow due to lack of demand from China, but now Chinese carriers, like China Eastern, are increasing capacity and opening new international routes in the region.
China Eastern is focusing on Southeast Asian island destinations to meet travel demand and expects more passengers from Southeast Asia to travel to or transit through China during the festival period.
China Eastern has launched new routes to Kuala Lumpur and Cairns, and will add 15 more international routes, including a new route to Perth, Australia.
As global aviation steadily recovered during 2023, one region in particular was falling behind, Southeast Asia, which spent most of last year operating at around 20% less capacity than it had in pre-pandemic 2019. The primary reason for that was the lack of demand from China which was still in the grip of some of the world's most severe COVID-19 lockdowns and all but closed to international travel.