Originally Posted by
Nostoodian
If this is the case then is the MAN - PEK service even profitable and sustainable using an A330-300? It would seem a 787-900 daily service would be a much better fit as others have said. It seems like a strange decision by Hainan not to change equipment on the route. The route can't be doing that bad as Hainan was thinking of starting a 3 x daily Guangzhou route not long ago. Checking through multiple dates later in the year, economy fares seemed quite cheap so yield could be quite low. Then again there's plenty of competition from other airlines as you can fly to Beijing indirect for £350 return on certain months later in autumn. Maybe Hainan knows something we don't. With the Virgin takeover of Flybe and possible Thomas Cook long haul in the future, it's not beyond the realms of possibility that Virgin could take on a Chinese route like Beijing with the opening of Daxing International. They already serve Shanghai from Heathrow. Does Virgin have any codeshares with Chinese Airlines?
I believe the PEK yields are not brilliant but sustainable.
CAN I think would be commercial suicide unless heavily subsidised. No real market, too close to HKG plus it would make CX rather unhappy.
As for the last question (may have been answered not seen the rest of the thread). Pretty sure CA operate a codeshare with VS on LHR-PEK.