Chinese holidaymakers looking forward for the upcoming May Labour Day holiday are facing a wave of flight disruptions on routes between China and Southeast Asia, and beyond, as airlines cut back flights amid surging fuel costs driven by the escalating US-Iran conflict.
Southeast Asian routes affected
Southeast Asia is a key destination for Chinese travellers, with strong tourist flows to countries such as Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore and Vietnam, which is also mainly bolstered by visa-free policies.
However, as Chinese airlines go all out to exploit the supply gap in Europe-Asia flights, they are also cutting some routes between China and Southeast Asia and Oceania to ease cost pressure from rising oil prices.
Checks by CNA showed multiple flight cancellations between China and Southeast Asian destinations since early April, including routes between Xi’an and Phuket, and Xiamen and Vientiane, the capital of Laos.
China’s flagship carrier Air China has cancelled all flights between Chengdu Fengdu International Airport and Kuala Lumpur International Airport from April 7 to June 30, according to Chinese news reports.
The Economic Daily reported that Spring Airlines, China Eastern Airlines and China Southern Airlines have cancelled some Southeast Asia-bound flights scheduled during the Labour Day holiday in May.
Some flights to Singapore have also been impacted. Chinese airline Juneyao Air, which operates both domestic and international flights from Shanghai, has cancelled flights between Singapore and Shanghai Pudong from April 28 to May 5.
Other cancelled routes include Sichuan Airlines flights between Singapore and Chengdu Tianfu International Airport from April 28 to May 5, according to Flight Master.
Singapore Airlines flights between mainland Chinese cities and Southeast Asian destinations have not been impacted so far.
A travel notice on AirAsia’s website stated that flights between Bangkok’s Don Mueang International Airport and Shanghai’s Pudong International Airport will be suspended from April 17, while flights to Xi’an Xianyang International Airport will be halted from May 11.
Cathay raises fuel surcharges
Cathay Pacific announced that it will cancel about 2 percent of its passenger flights between May 16 and June 30, 2026 to offset part of the pressure from rising jet fuel costs. Most of them are regional short-haul routes and some to and from Australia, South Asia, and South Africa.
Cathay raised fuel surcharges by 34% on April 1, 2026, just two weeks after doubling the fees.
Cathay’s subsidiary Hong Kong Express Airways will cut about 6 percent of its flights 6% of its flights from May 11 to June 30, 2026. HK Express also increased surcharges on most routes, with the exception of flights to and from mainland China.
Chinese airlines increase flights to Europe
Yicai Global reported that Chinese airlines are increasing their flights to Europe during the peak summer season.
China Eastern Airlines will increase flight frequencies to European destinations by 24% in the upcoming summer-autumn season, reaching up to 410 weekly flights.
China Southern Airlines launched a new route between Beijing Daxing International Airport and Helsinki and plans to add flights from Guangzhou to London, Madrid, Moscow, and Budapest. Air China intends to open new routes from Beijing Daxing Airport to Frankfurt and Milan.
In fact, Chinese airlines have been increasing capacity to Europe in the past year as they are able to fly over Russia, giving them shorter flight times and lower operating costs on direct routes to Europe. European airlines are not able to compete and many have stopped flying to China.
Even now, the Chinese carriers maintain their cost advantage over European peers as the Middle East conflict is driving oil prices up.
