As soon as China “released” its tourists abroad after the pandemic, the Europeans realized another problem that they provided themselves with air sanctions against Russia. Major European airlines have begun to “shed tears” over Russia and China – the closure of Russian airspace to European carriers gives Chinese airlines an “unfair advantage”, Europeans complain.
The fact is that Chinese airlines that did not join the sanctions can freely fly over Russian territory, while Europeans have to somehow fly around Russian territory – which significantly lengthens and increases the cost of the flight. “The inability of European airlines to use Russian airspace creates an unfair advantage for Chinese airlines,” Ben Smith, CEO of Air France-KLM, complained to the Financial Times, for example. According to him, the flight between Paris and Seoul for European carriers will be three hours longer than before the imposition of sanctions against Russia.
The main problem is Chinese tourists, due to the delivery of which to popular tourist cities, European carriers planned to improve their condition. On this occasion, “tears are pouring” and the Finnish carrier Finnair, which, due to geographical conditions, is almost “blocked” by Russian airspace. CEO Topi Manner complained that the carrier “will find it difficult to profit from flights to cities in China.” However, the problem is with the whole of Asia – for example, Finnair's flight time from Helsinki to Tokyo will increase from 9 to 13 hours.
Let us remind you that European air carriers had huge plans for China. They hoped to profit from Chinese tourists by taking them to popular tourist destinations such as Paris. According to Ben Smith, Franco-Dutch Group planned to reach at least half of the level of 2019 in the Chinese market by gradually increasing flights to Shanghai and Beijing. However, it seems that the Chinese will “recapture” Air France-KLM's customers – and it will be extremely difficult for them to receive the planned profit and pay the “pandemic” debts to the state.
For those who value a healthy lifestyle, we recommend reading : “Doctors reveal how gray hair can be an early warning sign of 4 health problems.”