After a stronger than anticipated first quarter this year, Air China has announced plans to expand its Australian operations with increased services and product upgrades.

According to Air China's General Manager for Australia and New Zealand, Ms. Ling Ma, services between Australia and China were unprofitable due to using an aircraft that was too large and the lack of superior in-flight products.

"With the introduction of the A330 and new in-flight product, Air China is now well placed to be a competitive carrier of choice," said Ms. Ma.

The Airbus A330 has a twin-cabin configuration containing 34 business and 206 economy class seats. Passengers travelling in economy class enjoy ergonomically designed slimline seats with a 34 inch pitch, which is more than any other airline operating direct flights between Australia and China.

Business Class cabins feature lie-flat sleeper seats with 60 inches of pitch and a fully extended length of 190cm. All seats feature multi system power sockets with 100w output for laptop computers as well as an advanced lighting system that is designed to make flights less strenuous on the body.

Air China has also fitted its aircraft with AVOD (Audio Video on Demand) systems. This means that passengers can access 60 video, 100 audio and 10 electronic games on their 10.4 inch personal LCD screens. The system is available in Chinese and English as well as several European languages.

Since introducing the wider bodied Airbus A330-200 to its daily services between Beijing and Shanghai to Sydney and Melbourne, Air China has seen passenger demand and yields increase.

As a result, Air China is planning the introduction of three additional weekly A330-200 services from China to Australia in October, bringing total flights per week to ten. The additional services are planned on the Beijing - Shanghai - Melbourne route, which currently operates as a continuation of the Sydney service.

Although Sydney will maintain its daily services, Air China is considering moving some of its Beijing via Shanghai flights to Beijing - Sydney non-stop direct services. This will provide greater network connectivity to Europe and North America.

Air China will also be receiving the first of 15 Boeing 787-8 Dreamliners in mid-2008. These have been earmarked for Australian services.

"No firm dates have been set regarding the introduction of the B787 for Australian services but we hope to see them here before the end of 2008," added Ms. Ma.