Philippine Air cuts China flights amid weak demand, tensions

MANILA – Philippine Airlines Inc is cutting back flights to China, becoming the latest carrier to reduce traffic amid weak travel demand and fraying relations between Beijing and Manila.
The Philippines’ national airline Chief Executive Officer Stanley Ng confirmed the reductions to Bloomberg News, in the latest draw down in flights between the two countries. It follows cuts by Cebu Pacific Air and Philippines AirAsia among others in recent months. China Southern Airlines Co has also pared back its flights to the Philippines. 
Manila-based Philippine Airlines will reduce services to Beijing and Guangzhou in the coming months, scheduling data tracked by AeroRoutes showed. The carrier’s flights into China have failed to recover to anywhere near pre-pandemic peaks.
The reduction in flights comes after Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. outlawed online casinos catering to Chinese gamblers, an industry that he said stoked crimes including money laundering.
The sector boomed during Marcos’ predecessor’s term in office, Rodrigo Duterte, who steered the nation’s foreign policy toward China. At that time, tens of thousands of Chinese nationals descended upon Manila, boosting property prices and consumption.
Since Duterte’s departure however, spats over competing claims for disputed territories in the South China Sea have tested relations between the two countries. Manila has also stepped up military activity with western nations to the ire of China. Beijing has not included the Philippines among the dozens of countries to benefit this year from visa-waivers and easier travel into Asia’s biggest economy.
Arrivals by Chinese visitors, once the second biggest group of visitors to the Philippines thanks to the lure of its climate and sandy beaches, have languished at around 20% of pre-pandemic levels. China this year ranks as the 14th most visited destination for Filipinos, accounting for 2.3% of international travel.
“Chinese citizens have lots of attractive visa-free destinations in Southeast Asia to choose from these days,” independent aviation analyst Brendan Sobie said. “The attractiveness of destinations is always changing for the Chinese traveller and at the moment the Philippines is just not attractive.”
Philippine Airlines currently operates 20 flights a week to China, including three to Beijing, according to airline data firm Cirium, though services to Guangzhou in recent months were infrequent. Pre-covid, services to these cities were operated almost on a daily basis. Philippines AirAsia pulled all services to China at the end of August, AeroRoutes showed. China Southern has also trimmed its Philippines schedule.
China has struggled to woo back foreign carriers more broadly as tepid demand for travel into the country and a flood of flights operated by Chinese carriers in the other direction with cheaper prices push away airlines.