Chinanews.com Client, Beijing, March 17 (Zhang Xu) The spread of overseas epidemics has intensified, and many overseas Chinese and overseas students are eager to return to China, and the prices of air tickets for returning to China have also hit high prices.
Recently, the London-Shanghai route launched by Golden Deer Business Aviation Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Golden Deer Business"), a subsidiary of HNA, has sold out quickly from RMB 180,000 per ticket. How can a ticket sell for 180,000 yuan?
The poster shows that the flight seats from 180,000 yuan.
The number of returnees has been increasing since March
Since March, the epidemic situation of new crown pneumonia in China has been controlled to some extent, but the number of confirmed cases of new crown pneumonia abroad has continued to rise.
According to the World Health Organization, the cumulative number of confirmed cases of new coronary pneumonia outside China has surpassed China. Currently, a total of 151 countries and regions outside China have confirmed cases. As of 10:00 on the 16th Central European Time (17:00 on the 16th Beijing time), the number of confirmed cases of new coronary pneumonia outside China increased by 13,874 cases to 86,434 from the previous day; the number of death cases increased by 848 to 3,388 from the previous day.
Affected by this, many overseas Chinese and overseas students are considering returning to China to avoid the epidemic, which has generated a lot of market demand.
"The United States, Italy, Spain, the United Kingdom, and other countries have recently experienced a wave of returning home." Ctrip data shows that since March, bookings for air tickets booked from Italy, Iran, Spain, the United States, and Sweden have been increasing. Compared with March 2 to March 8, the trips in the above five countries from March 9 to March 15 nearly doubled.
For example, comparing air ticket prices and travel conditions on March 15 and March 1, it was found that the number of trips on March 15 increased by almost five times compared with March 1, and the average price increased by nearly 1.5 times.
In addition to the above countries, Ctrip said that the average ticket prices of most countries, such as Japan, South Korea, Singapore, New Zealand, and Australia, have also experienced a year-on-year increase in different ranges.
Per capita price trend of European-Chinese flights. (As of March 12)
Return ticket prices are still hard to find
Market demand is not small, but flight supply is decreasing. For example, American Airlines on the China-US route has suspended all direct flights from the United States to the Chinese mainland. Air China and China Eastern Airlines have only retained one flight from the US East Coast and West Coast to China. .
Given the contradiction between supply and demand, the cost for passengers to fly from Europe and the United States to China has increased significantly. According to Qunar.com data, in the past week, the average price of domestic air tickets returning to the United States has increased by 47.6%, and the prices of domestic air tickets returning to Europe have increased by 74.3%.
The reporter inquired about the online ticketing platform on the 16th and found that the London-Shanghai ticket price in March was between 4,000-24,000 yuan, which was significantly higher than usual. How about future ticket prices? Ticket prices from March 16 to March 22 are more than 20,000 yuan, and only one flight is available. On March 31, there are about 50 flights to choose from, with the lowest price being 4318 yuan, but the highest official business The cabin price is nearly 50,000 yuan.
The data comes from Meituan.
Not only that, according to the Qunar platform data, in the next week, direct flights from major European and American cities to Beijing and Shanghai have been sold out. Specifically, the return flight from London to China is the most difficult to buy. Except for Hong Kong, the direct flights from London to Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Chengdu are basically sold out. On March 18, direct flights from London to Hong Kong with a minimum of 52313 including taxes yuan.
The ticket of 180,000 yuan is still sold out quickly
If you can't buy ordinary civil aviation tickets, charter flights have become an expensive option. Recently, a poster flying from London to Shanghai operated by a Boeing 787 business jet spread to the circle of friends. Poster information shows that this flight starts at 180,000 yuan per seat and has only 40 seats.
The business jet was sold out shortly after the ticket was released. Operator Golden Deer Business said that the business jet received more than 100 scheduled requests, mainly from London.
Public information shows that Golden Deer Business is an airline of the HNA Group. It is a domestic operator engaged in professional business aircraft leasing, private aircraft hosting, business aircraft ground agency and maintenance, air medical rescue, and private aircraft purchase consulting services.
Golden Deer official introduction, "The 787 Dreamliner can accommodate up to 40 people, and it is equipped with a living room, cabin, master bedroom, master bedroom cloakroom, master bedroom washroom and kitchen." "Specially developed seven-star service standards, provide One-on-one 'travel butler' service. "
Interior view of a Boeing 787 business jet. Picture from Golden Deer official website
According to experts, business jets are a form of charter. Customized flights are based on the needs of charterers, and their prices are significantly higher than ordinary civil airliners.
Civil aviation expert Ji Qi told reporters: "Take the 787 aircraft used by Golden Deer London to Shanghai as an example. The first class + business class + economy class layout of ordinary flights provides 250 seats, while the business jet layout only has 40 seats, so it will First-class or higher prices are used for pricing. At the same time, charter flights operate in one direction and involve adjustment fees, so the price will be higher than that of ordinary airliners. "
Yun Qizheng, general manager of Golden Deer Business, said in an interview with the media that during the Spring Festival, the production of Golden Deer business was not interrupted. Due to the special nature of the business jet industry, the number of flights increased. Some customers used to travel in first class on large flights. Now, because of the privacy and flexibility of business jets, they have opted for charter flights. This part of the new business brought some compensation for the reduction in flights.
According to the analysis of iFlyPlus data from the private aircraft platform, at the beginning of March, affected by the epidemic development in Asia, Europe, North America and other places, entrepreneurs, immigrants, and international students living in overseas consulting clients are calling more and more to inquire about charter flights. The trend of the epidemic situation is to consider returning to China where the epidemic situation is gradually controlled. From January to March, the proportion of all registered users outside its platform will increase from 11% to 19% in the past.
International flights gradually recover
Affected by the epidemic, China ’s civil aviation industry recorded a record loss in February. In order to help enterprises overcome difficulties, the Civil Aviation Administration of China has introduced a series of tax and fee reductions and exemptions, and introduced a more direct incentive policy.
China Eastern Airlines flight MU787 takes off to Rome, Italy. Photo courtesy of China Eastern Airlines
On March 4, the Civil Aviation Administration announced that it would reward international flights that were not suspended and resumed during the epidemic. The reward standard is divided into two levels: 0.0176 yuan per seat kilometer for a total flight and 0.0528 yuan per seat for a solo flight. The policy implementation period is from January 23, 2020 to June 30, 2020.
Driven by incentive policies and market demand, airlines are gradually recovering some international routes. China Southern plans to gradually restore international passenger flights from Guangzhou to Australia, New Zealand, North America, Europe, Southeast Asia and other regions. Among the European routes, starting from March 22, China Southern plans to resume the Guangzhou-London route to 4 flights per week. Week 1, 3, 5, 7 execution.
China Eastern Airlines has resumed several international routes since March 15. Among them, the Pudong-Paris, Pudong-Amsterdam, Pudong-Frankfurt, Pudong-London routes were resumed on European routes.
There are many international flights, and Beijing and Shanghai strictly prevent epidemics
Inbound international flights are still scattered, and pressure on overseas imports to prevent epidemics is still high.
Frequent flight data show that on March 14, the number of domestic airports in the affected areas reached 10, of which the capital airport had the largest number of flights, reaching 8; the Shanghai and Shanghai airports ranked second with 5 affected areas. In addition, Guangzhou Baiyun, Harbin Taiping, and Yanji Chaoyangchuan ranked third with an average daily flight volume of two affected areas.
The data comes from Fang Changzhun.
Zhang Yun, member of Air China ’s overseas epidemic prevention and control group, introduced on the 15th that rolling statistics from March 1 to March 15 indicated that Air China ’s “Overseas Into Beijing” flights temporarily did not transport 76 passengers due to excessive body temperature before boarding, involving 23 passengers. Flights; Air China flight crew carried out overseas flights to Beijing. During the flight, 67 people were involved in quarantine when they detected that their body temperature exceeded the standard.
In order to effectively prevent the import and spread of overseas epidemics, all international and Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan regional inbound flights from Beijing Capital Airport will stop at Beijing Capital Airport T3D disposal area starting from the 15th. Beginning at 00:00 on March 16, all overseas personnel entering Beijing should be transferred to a centralized observation point for 14 days of quarantine observation. In special cases, home observation can be conducted after strict evaluation. During the centralized isolation observation, the costs of isolation personnel need to be borne by themselves.
Shanghai requires that all Chinese and foreign personnel who have traveled or resided in Korea, Italy, Iran, Japan, France, Spain, Germany, the United States and other countries within 14 days before entering Shanghai will be implemented from 0:00 on March 13. Home or concentrated health observations.
"With the implementation of quarantine measures similar to Beijing, the need for returning home should decrease. After all, the best way to control the spread of the epidemic is to isolate yourself in place, rather than various flows." Qi Qi said. (Finish)