Qantas hits right note with China
By John Masanauskas, News.com.au | Jan. 18, 2006
When Qantas held a dinner in Beijing recently to celebrate its new China flights, an Australian singer entertained the 220 guests.
Melbourne singer Bernadette Robinson opened proceedings with an obligatory but popular rendition of Waltzing Matilda.
But it was when she belted out a traditional song in the Mandarin language that the predominantly Chinese audience really got excited.
A Qantas official later said that there had been "a lot of politics" swirling about the room that night, but Ms Robinson's recital had helped to smooth any tensions.
For Qantas, it was crucial to get the political and cultural sensitivities right in an important market like China.
The Flying Kangaroo, which resumed direct services to Beijing on January 9, must be seen to be committed to Beijing in the long term after pulling out of the destination twice in the past 20 years.
Qantas now offers three non-stop flights a week from Sydney to Beijing, adding to its four weekly services to Shanghai.
But with the Australia-China travel market growing by 22 per cent in the past year, and the annual number of Chinese visitors expected to increase from 360,000 now to more than one million within a decade, daily flights to both cities are expected relatively soon.
Much of that will be business traffic. Qantas executive general manager John Borghetti said non-stop flights from Melbourne were also possible in the future.
"We don't see any signs that those sort of growth rates are going to diminish over the next two or three years," he said.
Mr Borghetti said Qantas was also interested in using China as a stepping stone for lights to Europe, although the airline currently did not have rights to fly passengers back through China from Europe.
Qantas's push into China has been aided by Tourism Australia, with both organisations committing $5 million to promote Australia in the country over the next two years.
Victoria had a head start in China by being the first foreign entity to forge a sister region link with Jiangsu Province, whose capital is Nanjing. Victorian Governor John Landy recently visited the province as a guest of local authorities and was also able to see other areas in China. Facilitating his tour was Shanghai-based Wendy Simpson, Victoria's chief representative for North Asia - a new position created to help build business and government links with the region.