China Southern became the latest Chinese airline to offer ultra-cheap, on Tuesday, all-you-can-fly deals aimed at reintroducing air travel following the Coronavirus lockdown. At least eight Chinese carriers have launched similar schemes so far, which they hope will boost the endemic domestic aviation sector in the second-largest economy in the world, India Today reported.
Lucky Air, which unveiled offers for unlimited domestic flights on 13 July, announced two days later that it had received monthly and seasonal passenger passes. Deals, valid for any period between a month and a year, start at 1,588 Yuan ($227) for unlimited flights over 31 days per person.
Lucky Air said that it plans to sell more of these packages in the future.
Airlines offer variations of such deals, including the Spring Airlines package for children traveling with their parents and China Eastern unlimited weekend flights.
The all-you-can-fly deal costs 3,699 Yuan ($528) and can be used until next January. Some carriers have chosen to join hands, with Qingdao Airlines Okay Airways and Ruili Airlines collaborating on unlimited weekend deals as well.
Others, such as Juneyao Air, have rolled out a package of 888 Yuan ($127) for unlimited upgrades — allowing passengers to bump their economy class tickets at no additional cost.
China’s economy has been gradually recovering since the Coronavirus outbreak, and last Friday, the Chinese Civil Aviation Administration (CAAC) reported that daily flights had returned to about 80 per cent of pre-virus levels.
The country’s aviation industry lost 34.25 billion Yuan ($4.89 billion) in the second quarter of this year; the CAAC said this month after Beijing took drastic action to curb the spread of Coronavirus that first surfaced in the central city of Wuhan.