Qantas under fire over China

A row over the national carrier, Qantas (QF), has broken out in Australia after XiamenAir became the latest Chinese airline to begin service to Sydney and the fifth overall.

The Skyteam member’s inaugural B787-8 flight Down Under, arriving from Fuzhou, the capital and one of the largest cities in China’s Fujian province, touched down in Sydney last week (29 November). A second service from the airline’s hub at Xiamen, a port city on China’s southeast coast, began on Saturday (5 December).

Commentators on social media were quick to ask where was Australia’s national carrier. “Good to see all these Chinese airlines coming here to tap the huge China-Oz market,” said one. “Meanwhile Qantas lags in the background. Where are their marketing people?”

Another argued: “Given that Beijing is the second busiest airport in the world, one would have thought that QF could restart the service there, at least three times a week.”

XiamenAir’s expansion into Australia follows its entry into Europe in July, when it began service between Xiamen and Amsterdam, also using the Dreamliner. 

It is the first privately-owned airline in the People's Republic of China and the only major Chinese carrier to operate an all-Boeing fleet.  www.xiamenair.com/cn/en/v2

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