Air China Starts China To Sao Paulo, Brazil, Direct Flight

Air China just launched China's first flight to South America -- a Beijing to Sao Paulo, Brazil, run, with a stopover in Madrid, Spain. A Boeing 767-300 aircraft will be operating the route, with flights departing Beijing On Thursdays and Sundays. The flight will take 12 hours and 45 minutes from Beijing to Madrid, then after a 1.5 hour Madrid stopover, another 11 hours and 50 minutes to Sao Paulo. According to Xinhua, 53,000 passengers flew from China to Brazil last year, up 24 percent from the previous year. This new route is also the only direct flight between China and Spain.

I am putting this post in the China Business category (rather than under China Travel) because the significance of this new route means more than just a new way to get from point A to point B; It signals that business between China and Latin America (Brazil this time) has grown so much as to warrant this new route.

For more on China-Latin American ties, check out our posts, entitled, "China -- Not Just For Americans Anymore," "China Making Latin American Business Moves," and "China -- Ya No S'lo Para Los Americanos."

Comments

I think it's often forgotten amid this year's Africa love-in that actually the ties with Latin America are much stronger. Trade is higher, more diversified and China is a more important export market for more countries (the number of countries in Africa for whom China represents more than 10% of their exports is surprisingly small, and virtually all are oil-related). It makes sense really when you think about it - for all it's recent trade boom Africa is still more corrupt, more politically unstable and has poorer infrastructure. Where would you rather go for your commodities?

Posted by: Duncan | December 11, 2006 2:17 AM

Duncan --

Thanks for checking in. Not just commodities, but where would you rather go to sell your products? And where would you rather go to have products made for shipment to the United States?

Posted by: China Law Blog | December 11, 2006 3:30 PM

My wife, who has a number of friends at the Brazilian embassy in Beijing, says consular officials there are inundated with visa requests from Chinese. It is something like 250 requests a day to travel to Brazil. Air China obviously did the market research. Before the direct flight, Chinese either had to go through Europe or hassle with getting a U.S. visa, too, and transiting through U.S. airports.

Posted by: Tim Johnson | December 11, 2006 8:29 PM

Tim --

Thanks for checking in. Yea, but if you read closely, this "direct" flight passes through Madrid.

Posted by: China Law Blog | December 11, 2006 11:17 PM