China-Summer Air Travel

Shotlist

Beijing, China – Recent (CCTV – No access Chinese mainland)
1. Various of tourists waiting to check-in in airport
2. SOUNDBITE (Chinese) Guo Ling, product manager, China Eastern Airlines (partially overlaid with shot 3/ending with shot 4):
“In (the first week of) July, about 40,000 passengers departed from Beijing airports, up 25 percent from the end of June. For air routes to popular destinations like Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Chengdu and Kunming, their PLFs have actually reached 70 percent. During weekends, their PLFs have exceeded 80 percent.”
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3. Tourists waiting to check-in in airport
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Chengdu City, Sichuan Province, southwest China – July 8, 2022 (CCTV – No access Chinese mainland)
4. Various of plane decorated with Universal Beijing Resort logo, sign, characters from Universal Pictures movies including Minions, How to Train Your Dragon, Jurassic World, Kung Fu Panda in hangar
5. Various of plane leaving hangar, being parked on airport apron

Beijing, China – July 8, 2022 (CCTV – No access Chinese mainland)
6. SOUNDBITE (Chinese) Bai Fan, general manager, Beijing Tourism Group (partially overlaid with shot 7/ending with shot 8):
“We plan to operate non-stop flights between 15 cities in two months. Together with catering, accommodation, travel, shopping and entertainment options, the project is estimated to attract at least 100 million trips to Beijing.”

Chengdu City, Sichuan Province, southwest China – July 8, 2022 (CCTV – No access Chinese mainland)
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7. Plane decorated with Universal Beijing Resort logo, sign, characters from Universal Pictures movies
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8. Various of tourists taking photo before boarding plane
9. Tourists boarding plane
10. Tourists in plane
11. Airline meal

Storyline

China expects air travel to take off this summer partly thanks to marketing campaigns.

This week the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) said flights exceeded 10,000 per day since the beginning of July. Notably, on July 8 and on 10, the country managed more than 12,000 flights, recovering to almost 65 percent of pre-epidemic levels.

Some domestic airlines report a rebound in passenger load factor (PLF), which measures how much of an airline’s passenger carrying capacity is used.

“In (the first week of) July, about 40,000 passengers departed from Beijing airports, up 25 percent from the end of June. For air routes to popular destinations like Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Chengdu and Kunming, their PLFs have actually reached 70 percent. During weekends, their PLFs have exceeded 80 percent,” said Guo Ling, a product manager of China Eastern Airlines.

To attract more holidaymakers to travel by air, some airlines have joined forces with tour operators and entertainment venues to offer all-in-one travel and leisure holidays with creative marketing techniques.

Beijing Capital Airlines, Beijing Tourism Group and Universal Beijing Resort have launched a themed airplane to carry visitors to the theme park this summer.

Decked out with images of the Minions, dinosaurs from Jurassic World and other characters from Universal Pictures’ franchises, the plane is designated for tourists who have booked a vacation at Universal Beijing Resort.

On July 8, the plane took its maiden flight from southwest China’s Chengdu City to Beijing.

More trips are expected.

“We plan to operate non-stop flights between 15 cities in two months. Together with catering, accommodation, transportation, shopping and entertainment options, the project is estimated to attract at least 100 million trips to Beijing,” said Bai Fan, the general manager of Beijing Tourism Group.