The boss of KLM Royal Dutch Airlines has called on European regulators to even the playing field between Western airlines and their Chinese rivals, saying that the ability of carriers such as Air China and China Southern to still use Russian airspace is “unfair.”
In recent months, several European carriers have announced route cuts to China because of the extra time and expense involved in flying to destinations such as Beijing and Shanghai because they have to avoid Russian airspace.
The so-called great circle distance of flying from Europe to China is a lot shorter using Russian airspace, and flying further south through the Caucuses can add between three to four hours of flight time.
Not only does that extra flight time add a lot of cost due to the additional fuel that is required, but it also makes efficient use of aircraft utilization a lot harder.
European carriers have been banned from using Russian airspace since February 2022, when President Putin ordered his invasion of neighboring Ukraine, but Chinese carriers are still permitted to overfly Russia.
More and more passengers are now taking advantage of cheaper flight prices and shorter journey times by flying with Chinese carriers on flights between China and Europe.
British Airways has abandoned non-stop flights between its London Heathrow hub and Beijing for the foreseeable future due to its inability to use Russian airspace, while Virgin Atlantic has quit Shanghai for the same reason.
Late last month, German flag carrier Lufthansa also announced that it was cutting its route between Frankfurt and Beijing due to the high-costs involved in flying to China. The airline does, however, intend to maintain in Munich to Beijing route.
“Europe can at least look at how we can prevent that unfair playing field by pricing it or looking at it in a different way,” KLM Chief Executive Officer Marjan Rintel said in an interview with the WNL television on Sunday.
Rintel did not elaborate on what measures he would like to see European regulators introduce, but it’s hard to imagine a situation in which the EU tries to even the playing field without a tit-for-tat response from China.
Last week, KLM announced that it was to embark on a “painful” cost-cutting program to improve its lagging financial performance. The Dutch flag carrier warned that job losses were on the cards as it grappled with high costs and aircraft shortages.
The airline also complained of high staff absenteeism and warned employees that it would be forced to outsource functions such as engineering work unless sickness rates started to come down.
Chinese air carriers were historically priced their fares on the cheaper end, even before Covid and the Russian Invasion.