The Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) has allowed China Eastern Airlines (MU, Shanghai Hongqiao) to continue serving Shanghai from the existing capital airport Beijing Capital after the new facility at Beijing Daxing International opens, Air Transport World has reported.

According to an earlier CAAC plan, China Eastern together with its Skyteam partners, China Southern Airlines (CZ, Guangzhou), and their subsidiaries were due to fully relocate from Beijing Capital to Daxing once the latter airport opens at the end of September 2019. Air China (CA, Beijing Capital) and its Star Alliance partners, as well as Hainan Airlines (HU, Haikou), will continue to serve the existing gateway.

According to the ch-aviation capacity module, China Eastern currently operates 761 weekly departures out of Beijing Capital, which gives it a 13.3% market share by frequencies. It operates 131x weekly from Beijing to Shanghai Hongqiao and 28x weekly to Shanghai Pudong, using both narrow- and widebody equipment.

China Eastern has a 45.9% market share by capacity between Beijing and Shanghai.