Major airlines are cutting services to China or quitting entirely amid low travel demand, high costs

Major global airlines are reducing services and, in some instances, withdrawing from China altogether as longer routes to Asia following the closure of Russian airspace have raised operational costs, while demand has been low.

Virgin Atlantic and Scandinavian Airlines, for instance, are completely withdrawing from China, the companies' websites show. Virgin Atlantic ceased all flights to Hong Kong — and closed an office there — in 2022, ending the airline's 30-year presence in the Asian financial hub.

A report from travel news site Skift shows that seven major airlines have retreated from the country in the past four months.

John Grant, chief analyst at the aviation intelligence company OAG, said the situation is "going to get more pronounced, before it gets any better."

British Airlines has steadily downgraded the size of jets it flies into China, said Grant. Routes that were flying Boeing 747 jumbo jets, were replaced by B777s and eventually even smaller B787s, he said. This is another way to scale back capacity, yet it "retains the dot" on an airline route map, said Skift.  

Following Russia's invasion of Ukraine, the EU and the United Kingdom, along with other Western nations, imposed a blanket flight ban on Russian aircraft. Russia responded in kind by closing its airspace, forcing many European carriers to fly longer routes to reach Asia.

Longer flights require more fuel, which make flights more expensive. Chinese airlines, however, are not subject to Russian airspace prohibitions, so they can fly the same routes into Europe faster and cheaper than their European counterparts.

Additionally, "airlines have had to operate with four-man flight crews because of the extended hours when, in some cases, they could have used a