The Australia-to-China route has hit 104 per cent of pre-pandemic seat capacity this January, as Australia welcomes several new routes and connects more passengers to China.

The return to pre-pandemic capacity comes as Flight Centre Corporate reports a growth in bookings and more affordable airfares between the two countries.

“The limited capacity between Australia and China has been one of the key reasons international airfares have been so high for so long, but this influx of additional flights is the final frontier to lower airfares,” says Flight Centre Corporate’s global COO, Melissa Elf.

Direct flights between Perth and China – returning for the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic – bring an additional 41,000 inbound seats to Australia annually.

“With direct flights between Perth and China resuming for the first time in more than five years, Australia’s first connection to the new Beijing Daxing Airport, and a new carrier [Juneyao Air] entering Australia, capacity between Australia and China will skyrocket,” says Elf.

“Capacity can be influenced by seasonal travel trends so we’ll see the connection to China fluctuate between 90-104 per cent of pre-pandemic capacity during the course of the year, but it’s a huge increase on what we’ve seen during the past several years.”

As recently as November 2024, capacity into China was at 79 per cent of pre-pandemic levels.

Flight Centre Corporate saw an increase in bookings of more than 50 per cent in 2024 compared to 2023, and anticipates this will grow as more capacity is added and competition ramps up.

“An economy fare between China and Australia is about 14 per cent cheaper during the past six months (June-November 2024) compared to the same period in the year previous,” says Elf.

“We can expect this trend to continue with the introduction of extensive new capacity this month.”