Chinese travellers hit by wave of Southeast Asia flight cancellations, Singapore routes affected amid fuel crisis
Chinese travellers hit by wave of Southeast Asia flight cancellations, Singapore routes affected amid fuel crisis
Chinese holidaymakers heading abroad for the Labour Day break in May are scrambling to rebook plans as several airlines cancel flights to Southeast Asia amid a fuel crisis driven by the Iran war.
SINGAPORE: Chinese holidaymakers gearing up for the upcoming May Labour Day break are facing a wave of sudden flight cancellations on routes between China and Southeast Asia, and beyond, as airlines cut back flights amid surging fuel costs driven by the escalating US-Iran conflict.
Chinese travellers took to social media to share their dashed plans and woes.
One traveller, Wang Qiang, 29, who was set to fly to Vietnam from Qingdao in eastern China on May 1, told CNA that his flight on Shandong Airlines had been cancelled with “no explanation given”.
Wang had planned to visit Hanoi and then Bangkok before flying to Guangzhou to settle his US travel visa, but has now been rebooked on a flight to Hanoi via Shanghai.
“At least the problem is solved,” he said, adding that the new flight’s timing “was actually even better”.
However, other Chinese travellers have not been as lucky as Wang.
A Xiaohongshu user with the handle Dianzi said that his upcoming flight from Chongqing to Ho Chi Minh on China Southern Airlines, originally scheduled for Apr 30, had been cancelled with “no warning”.
His return flight back to Chongqing on May 6 had also been cancelled.
“I heard that flights to Southeast Asia were cancelled due to fuel costs,” Dianzi wrote, adding that he had booked his flights two months ago, along with accommodations in Phu Quoc island.
“That’s more losses incurred,” he said.
He added that he had been informed of the cancellations on Apr 9 and while he had been able to get a full refund, other direct flights to Ho Chi Minh during the same period had soared to more than 5,000 yuan (US$733.33) - as compared to 2,200 yuan he originally paid.
“I thought only foreign airlines were affected - I totally didn’t expect domestic (Chinese) airlines to be affected too,” Dianzi said.
KEY ROUTES AFFECTED
With the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, one of the world’s most critical energy chokepoints, the war in the Middle East has become an economic crisis for Asia.
Southeast Asia is a key destination for Chinese travellers, experts said - with strong tourist flows to countries such as Thailand, Malaysia and Vietnam.
Checks by CNA showed multiple flight cancellations between China and Southeast Asian destinations since early April, including routes between Xi’an and Phuket, and Xiamen and Vientiane, the capital of Laos.
China’s flagship carrier Air China has cancelled all flights between Chengdu Fengdu International Airport and Kuala Lumpur International Airport from Apr 7 to Jun 30, according to Chinese news reports.
State-affiliated The Economic Daily reported that Spring Airlines, China Eastern Airlines and China Southern Airlines have cancelled some Southeast Asia-bound flights scheduled during the Labour Day holiday in May.
Malaysia’s AirAsia has suspended two routes between Bangkok and Shanghai as well as Xi’an.
A travel notice on its website stated that flights between Bangkok’s Don Mueang International Airport and Shanghai’s Pudong International Airport will be suspended from Apr 17 while flights to Xi’an Xianyang International Airport will be halted from May 11.
Some flights to Singapore have also been impacted. Juneyao Air, which operates both domestic and international flights from Shanghai, has cancelled flights between Changi Airport and Shanghai Pudong International Airport from Apr 28 to May 5.
Other cancelled routes include Sichuan Airlines flights between Singapore and Chengdu Tianfu International Airport from Apr 28 to May 5, according to Flight Master, a Chinese flight tracking and aviation data services platform.
Singapore Airlines flights between mainland Chinese cities and Southeast Asian destinations have not been impacted so far.
“Unfortunately, the airline business is very complex and influenced by many external factors like kerosene supply and operational costs being very decisive ones,” said Oliver Sedlinger, an expert on the Chinese outbound travel market.
LOW-COST CARRIERS MOST IMPACTED
Low-cost carriers are among the hardest hit as they typically do not hedge fuel costs due to their lean business models and quick turnaround times, noted Gary Bowerman, a tourism policy and consumer trends analyst.
Bigger airlines “buy futures contracts to protect against short-term spikes in fuel prices”, Bowerman said, referring to the practice of locking in jet fuel purchases at fixed prices for later.
However, that comes with risks, he said. “In some cases, over a 12-month period, fuel costs may not go up and (they may have) actually spent quite a lot of money on those contracts.”
Low-cost carriers, meanwhile, cannot take that risk, he added.
“When costs of crude oil and jet fuel go up, it hits low-cost carriers much harder because they’re not sheltered against it,” Bowerman said. “They have no protection.”
He pointed to Indonesian low-cost carrier Batik Air, where jet fuel typically accounts for about 30 per cent of its operating costs under normal conditions, but this has risen to almost 50 per cent amid the current crisis.
“With (such) narrow margins, they can’t operate all their flights because they’re going to lose money,” Bowerman said.
Hong Kong’s flagship carrier Cathay Pacific announced on Apr 11 that it would cancel a number of flights between May 16 and Jun 30 to “mitigate part of the increased (fuel) costs” - with mostly regional flights and a small number of Australia, South Asia and South Africa flights affected.
HK Express, its low-cost arm, will also cancel a number of its flights between May 11 and Jun 30, it said - affecting about 6 per cent of “total frequencies”.
The airline said the situation in the Middle East has “negatively impacted” jet fuel prices, which have ris