Originally Posted by
benzemalyonnais
Hainan really isn't that big of a player in the Chinese market, even though they love to show in the the media their 5-star rating. I don't think them entering the market will do anything to diminish the fact that MU, CZ, CA basically control it all.
I disagree. They are growing at a rapid clip with no signs of slowing down. Furthermore, their airport management business puts them at a strategic advantage to their peers (e.g. they tend to win slot control battles fairly often).
No one in China really pays CX or Dragonair fares. They're all like 3/4 times as expensive as MU every time. CX has some decent fares, but obviously they're all from HK.
While you're probably right that the lion's share of pax on CX/KA are commuting from HK to China and not the reverse, I know a lot of PRC based people who try to fly CX/KA as much as possible. Sure, it's expensive, but it's not as if any other airlines are especially cheap close in (I'm talking mainly about PEK-HKG; I realize that the SHA-HKG market is different due the presence of those two cheap airlines).