The 2024-2025 Winter-Spring flight season officially began on October 27th, with China Eastern Airlines (including subsidiaries Shanghai Airlines and China United) deploying a fleet of 790 aircraft, averaging approximately 3,118 per day. For international and regional flights, China Eastern is scheduled to operate 1,373 flights weekly, marking a 24.68% increase compared to the previous year.
In this season, CEA is introducing new routes, such as Wuhan-Osaka and Qingdao-Fukuoka, and increasing the frequency of key international routes from Shanghai Pudong to destinations including London, Heathrow, Sydney, Melbourne, and Osaka. New direct intercontinental routes from Hangzhou and Jinan to Sydney have also been launched. Additionally, high-frequency express routes from Shanghai to Bangkok and Singapore continue to operate, benefiting from visa-free policies in multiple Southeast Asian countries, allowing travelers easier access to international destinations.
To meet the travel needs of passengers, CEA has launched the "Explore the World: New International Routes" project, offering one-stop travel services including accommodations, visas, car rentals, insurance, and more. CEA is also strengthening partnerships with travel companies to expand its range of tourism products and value-added services, enhancing travel options through innovative intermodal transportation such as “air-rail,” “air-bus,” and “air-cruise”.
By September of this year, CEA's air-rail intermodal network covers 23 provinces, 5 autonomous regions, and 4 municipalities across China. Through the “air + rail” service, passengers can seamlessly transfer between 47 hub cities, 50 airports, and 771 railway stations, enabling smooth integration with 1,328 railway segments.
As the launch customer of China’s domestically-produced C919 aircraft, CEA has placed all eight C919 aircraft into service this season. These aircraft are flying routes including Shanghai Hongqiao-Chengdu Tianfu, Shanghai Hongqiao-Beijing Daxing, Shanghai Hongqiao-Guangzhou, Shanghai Hongqiao-Xi'an, and Beijing Daxing-Xi'an, with an average of 30 flights per day.