China has witnessed surging demand for air travel during the ongoing summer holiday season, with more direct flight routes being launched to facilitate passenger travel, indicating a rapid recovery of the civil aviation industry in a post-pandemic era.
Data from multiple online travel platforms show that Southeast Asia, Japan and South Korea are the most popular overseas destinations for Chinese tourists this summer, and the prices of air tickets for some international routes are even lower than domestic air ticket prices.
Take Shanghai as an example. The prices of direct flights from Shanghai to Seoul, Bangkok, Singapore, Ho Chi Minh, Kuala Lumpur and other cities in August are around 800 yuan (about 112 U.S. dollars) each, including tax, which are significantly lower than those for domestic routes of similar distances.
According to data from Air Travel, the average price of international economy class air tickets including tax in the summer of 2024 is about 18 percent lower compared with 2023.
"We see that international air ticket prices have fallen so far this summer, and the main reason is actually the resumption of more international flight routes. In terms of the departure sites, some non-first-tier cities such as Hefei, Changsha, and Wenzhou have had direct international flights," said Xiao Peng, a researcher at Qunar Big Data Research Institute.
Data from the Civil Aviation Administration of China show that the number of international passenger flights has exceeded 6,300 per week, an increase of nearly 10 percent since the end of June. The number of international routes has further increased. In July, multiple new international routes including the Chongqing-Penang rout, the Yantai-Kuala Lumpur route, saw their first flights.
Meanwhile, additional international routes were launched from traditional tourist cities in China such as Huangshan, Zhangjiajie and Sanya, attracting throngs of foreign tourists during the summer vacation.
Apart from inbound tourist visits, the number of domestic tourist travels has also shown steady growth so far this summer, driven by family travel, educational tours, summer retreats and graduation trips.
China's summer travel boom boosts civil aviation industry's rapid recovery
A 25 percent import tariff on all foreign-built vehicles entering the United States has raised serious concerns for manufacturers in South Africa.
Automotive giants like Mercedes and BMW have long used South Africa as a base for global exports -- but those plans may be shifting into reverse gear after the U.S. announced the punitive measures.
"If you take, for example, BMW, 97 percent of the X3 that we are producing in Rosslyn is exported out of the country. We only sell 3 percent in South Africa, and there's a huge number of those vehicles that also go into the U.S. So there are companies in South Africa that are purely here not because they are selling vehicles in South Africa; they are here to produce vehicles for the global market, and it's important for them to remain globally competitive," said Mike Mabasa, CEO of the National Association of Automobile Manufacturers of South Africa.
U.S. automaker Ford, which has deep roots in South Africa, is also in the crosshairs.
The company recently invested over 300 million U.S. dollars to upgrade its Silverton plant in Pretoria, South Africa, for the production of the world's only plug-in hybrid Ranger, which has just entered production but could face delays or restrictions.
"If an American citizen wants to buy specifically a Ford Ranger that is a plug-in hybrid, they can only place an order in South Africa, nowhere else in the world. So, that means, obviously, the capacity of Ford to be able to produce those vehicles in big volumes is going to be constrained, because Americans are going be looking at another Ford that is produced in another country, or even in the United States," said Mabasa.
South Africa has long enjoyed duty-free automotive exports to the U.S. under the African Growth and Opportunity Act, but that relationship now hangs in the balance.
A sharp shift in U.S. foreign policy threatens to derail an industry that employs thousands and contributes around 5 percent to the country's economy.
"We produce less than 1 percent of global automotive vehicles, so to say. So, in reality, the impact on us is likely to be more disproportionate than those of our peers that produce at the same level. And the risk is actually created -- a concentration risk -- in countries that have greater capacity and are building more; in those countries will be able to absorb some of this," said Parks Tau, South Africa's minister of trade and industry.
Amid growing concerns about overreliance on the U.S. market, Amith Singh, national manager for manufacturing at Nedbank Commercial Bank, emphasized the importance of tapping into regional trade opportunities.
"I think we need to make better use of some of our local agreements, our African continental agreements. How do we leverage that? How do we partner with the government and private sector to start benefiting the countries and the economies aside from the United States? So, those could be the catalyst to drive our localization projects; it could be what we need to drive the African economy as opposed to being completely reliant on the States (United States)," he said.
South Africa is for now standing firm in its decision not to retaliate against steep U.S. import tariffs, set to take effect in just a few days.
Officials in Pretoria acknowledge the challenges posed by the current U.S. administration but are pursuing a diplomatic approach in hopes of maintaining stable relations and preserving the African Growth and Opportunity Act.
US tariffs rock South Africa’s auto industry
