Air China will launch an additional flight to London during summer 2012 but is having to serve London Gatwick Airport rather than London Heathrow due to slot restrictions at the main UK international gateway. The Chinese flag carrier currently offers a daily Airbus A330-200 flight between Beijing and London, but despite considering increasing capacity on this route it has instead chosen to offer an alternative flight to London Gatwick.

Speaking to The HUB at the World Travel Market (WTM)in London this week, Dr Zhihang Chi, Vice President & General Manager North America for Air China confirmed that the revised strategy could potentially allow the airline to offer a mix of products on the route. Air China had been planning to upgrade the Beijing – London Heathrow route to a Boeing 777-300ER during 2012 and such a move would enable it to offer a three-class service on this route and a two-class A330 operation to London Gatwick, he explained.

“We fully intend to expand in the UK and increase our presence here but unfortunately we can’t do it at Heathrow. Our daily Beijing flight to Heathrow has load factors of over 90% - it’s ridiculously full. But adding capacity at Heathrow is out of the question and we have actually been agonising over this issue for a long time,” said Dr Chi.

“We have decided that the best option is to run split operations and to go to Gatwick for additional frequency. This is not necessarily a good thing but we don’t have a choice as we want to expand. Heathrow offers better connection options and we will now have to invest in two sets of staff and equipment,” he added.

Air China is not the first airline to announce plans to follow this option. Korean Air is understood to be planning a three times weekly Seoul Incheon – London Gatwick connection from April next year, complementing its existing Heathrow operation.

Details of Air China’s plans followed a panel discussion at WTM organised and chaired by aviation consultant John Strickland, where alongside Michael Blunt, Vice President Corporate Communications at global alliance oneworld, he debated a topic titled ‘New World Order: the airline industry in the new growth markets of the 21st century’. One of the key discussion points had been the subject of investment in airport infrastructure in which the two panelists highlighted how China and the UK’s policies are on opposite sides of the spectrum.

Having heard that China is in the process of building 56 new airports, relocating 16 others and renovating 91 more, Michael Blunt said the following on the UK’s political stance: “It looks as if we [the UK] are determined to strangle commerce out of the country through limited investment in airport infrastructure, visa restrictions and then even charging people to leave the country through taxation.”