China Southern Airlines, the mainland's biggest in terms of passengers flown, will launch the first service between China and the African continent in a sign of growing economic and political ties between the world's fastest-growing key economy and one of its principal sources of key raw materials.
The flights between Nigeria's commercial centre, Lagos, and Beijing were unveiled at the just-ended Sino-Africa Co-operation Forum.
Beijing had been pressing the state-controlled carriers to begin service to Africa for some time. In July, the General Administration of Civil Aviation of China, the aviation regulator, said it will give airlines rights to fly between Seoul and Beijing/Shanghai so long as they also start flights to Africa.
China Southern will launch the thrice-weekly service, which will stop over in Dubai, on December 30 using an Airbus 330. Flights will depart Beijing on Monday, Wednesday and Saturday and return the next day. The flight time will be about 16 hours.
Although politics helped drive the decision, the route could be an economic success as well, in part because aviation fuel prices in Nigeria are far below those in China, one industry veteran said. Nigeria is a leading oil producer and exporter.
The new route will break even if China Southern fills just 70 per cent of its seats, an analyst said. Routes between Lagos and key European capitals are often almost fully booked.
Nigeria, Africa's most populous nation, is China's second-largest trading partner on the continent. Lagos, with 14 million people, is the biggest city and the country's business and financial centre.
China Southern will offer business-class and economy-class services, one-way business-class fares of 16,000 yuan and coach tickets going for 6,400 to 9,600 yuan.
The mainland carrier will offer discounts for domestic flights that connect to its new service in Beijing.
'Prices are reasonable and affordable for business travellers,' said Karen Chan, a transport analyst at Credit Suisse First Boston.
Profitability will depend on demand and the size of the government subsidy China Southern receives from Beijing, as it typically takes time for a new service to build passenger traffic, she said.
China Southern shares yesterday rose 3.17 per cent to close at a record HK$2.93.