Flights between oz, china increased

The federal government has negotiated a temporary increase in the number of weekly plane flights between Australia and China...

The extra flights will be made available to cater for an expected spike in demand between November and the end of February 2011.

During the past year more than 410,000 Chinese visitors have travelled to Australia, an increase of 16 per cent on the previous year.

Already all three Chinese airlines which fly to Australia - Air China, China Southern and China Eastern - have indicated they will be increasing the frequency of services.

A new fourth airline - Hainan Airlines - will introduce a non-stop service between Sydney and Shenzhen.

The number of weekly flights between the two countries will increase by 60 per cent from 37 to 59 between November and February, Transport Minister Anthony Albanese said.

The extra flights, which include a new non-stop service between Brisbane and Guangzhou, will create 6300 more seats each week between Sydney, Brisbane and Melbourne and five Chinese cities - Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shenzhen and Hangzhou.

Source: AAP