Why are China Eastern Flights so Cheap?
This cheap flight phenomenon is not limited to China Eastern Airlines ; many Chinese airlines are undercutting fares from Asia to both Europe and North America. I’m currently looking for flights to Asia for next year, and often the cheapest flights I find are on Sichuan Airlines, XiamenAir, or Air China. But anyway. Why then are Chinese airlines able to offer such ridiculously cheap fares? I attribute this to three factors: Costs . Chinese airlines have very low operating costs compared to the competition and thus can pass that on to consumers. That said, you get what you pay for: Chinese airlines don’t offer the best service, but if you learn to temper your expectations, you’ll be fine. Volume and yield . Unfortunately, for most parts of Asia (the exceptions being Hong Kong, Singapore, Korea, and Japan), products — the amount of money an airline makes on a particular route — are awful. Chinese airlines make up for this by competing on volume, basical...