The Australian International Air Services Commission (IASC) has granted Virgin Australia (VA, Brisbane International) permission to begin regular passenger flights between Australia and China following an application lodged earlier this month.

In its assessment, the IASC said the permit, which is valid for five years effective June 17, 2016, will allow Virgin to operate daily services from an undisclosed "major" Australian gateway to each of Beijing Capital and Hong Kong International using A330-200 equipment. Service must start no later than June 1, 2017.

The launch of the flights is, however, also dependent on the Chinese and Hong Kong authorities allocating Virgin Australia take-off and landing slots.

Australia-China routes are currently dominated by Chinese operators with China Southern Airlines (CZ, Guangzhou) controlling the largest share of capacity with 23.4% of seats. Other carriers with a substantial share of capacity are Cathay Pacific (CX, Hong Kong International) (15.3%), China Eastern Airlines (MU, Shanghai Hongqiao) (13.7%), followed by Qantas (QF, Sydney Kingsford Smith) (12%) and Air China (CA, Beijing Capital) (9.1 %).