Two new scheduled routes into Sydney from mainland China by Xiamen Airlines from the final quarter of this year are expected to bring an extra 36,000 Chinese tourists in Australia and boost annual visitor expenditure in New South Wales by an estimated $134 million.

As part of its growth into international markets following the introduction of the Boeing 787 Dreamliner into its fleet, Xiamen Airlines will introduce direct flights to Sydney from two new mainland markets. A three times weekly link from Fuzhou will commence from November 30, 2015, while a twice weekly service from Xiamen will follow from December 6, 2015, both subject to final government approval.

“We’re proud to welcome Xiamen Airlines, whose new routes will provide the 38 million residents of China’s Fujian Province with the opportunity to experience Sydney and NSW,” said Kerrie Mather, managing director and chief executive officer, Sydney Airport.

“The new Fuzhou and Xiamen services are fantastic news for tourism in Sydney and NSW. It’s expected Xiamen Airlines will bring an additional 36,000 Chinese visitors to Sydney each year, contributing an anticipated $134 million in additional annual visitor expenditure to NSW,” she added.

Xiamen Airlines is fast emerging as a significant player in the Chinese market, having grown traffic beyond the 20 million passenger milestone last year. It currently operates five 787-8s which have initially been flown on domestic sorties, but recently were used to launch a new long-haul link between Xiamen and Amsterdam and are also been used on flights from Xiamen to Tokyo Narita and Fuzhou and Taipei. It also has outstanding commitments for the larger 787-9 which will facilitate further international network growth.

The new shows the strong economic value the expanded Australia – China bilateral air service agreement will bring to the country through such tourism arrival boosts.

“It’s great that Sydney has secured the first routes from secondary Chinese cities since the expansion of the Chinese and Australian governments’ air services agreement in early 2015,” said Ms Mather. “This is expected to further grow the important Chinese passenger market, which is expected to be Australia’s largest inbound visitor market next year.”

According to data from Tourism Australia, China is Australia’s fastest growing and most valuable tourism market worth an estimated $6.4 billion with Australia welcoming more than 918,000 visitors in the past year alone with a 21 per cent growth.

“The new services from Fuzhou and Xiamen provide a welcome boost in air capacity at a time when visitor numbers from China continue to climb to record levels,” said John O’Sullivan, managing director, Tourism Australia. “These routes will assist in ensuring we can keep up with the growing demand for Australia’s tourism offering from this important market.”

Xiamen Airlines will be the fifth mainland China–based airline to offer flights into Sydney, alongside Air China (Beijing and Shanghai), China Eastern Airlines (Beijing, Nanjing and Shanghai), China Southern Airlines (Guangzhou) and Sichuan Airlines (Chongqing), while Qantas also links the Australian city to Shanghai.

Our analysis of OAG Schedules Analyser data shows the growth in non-stop air capacity from mainland China to Australia this decade. Between 2010 and 2014 the number of international one-way seats increased 81.1 per cent from just over 580,000 in 2010 to over one million in 2014, an average annual rise of 20.1 per cent. According to published schedules for the remainder of 2015, capacity will rise a further 12.5 per cent this year, the largest annual growth since 2012.