AIRLINES: Juneyao Air to fly Shanghai to Melbourne and Sydney from 17 December 2024

Juneyao Air is debuting these flights to Australia, with a four times a week service to Sydney and a three times a week service to Melbourne.

From the peak season of January/February, Juneyao Air is planning to make the Melbourne-Shanghai route daily (the Chinese New Year is on 29 January). There is potential for an increase in the Sydney route, but nothing confirmed as yet.

Chinese not travelling

Chinese travel has not rebounded like other markets post-COVID-19 lockdowns.

It seems like all we have heard lately is the abandonment of routes by non-Chinese airlines into the centre of the world. British Airways is reducing its service, several American airlines are reducing theirs and even Qantas has scrapped its route to Shanghai as of 28 July

It’s possible that aggressive pricing and scheduling by Chinese, mainly government-owned airlines like Air China, China Eastern and China Southern have pushed other airlines out of the market.

About Juneyao Air

This is a privately owned Chinese airline, founded in 2005 is based in Shanghai, and operating domestic and intenrational operations out of both Pudong and Hongqiao airports.

It’s international destinations are concentrated in Asia, including Cambodia, Japan, Taiwan, Thailand, and South Korea. Their European destinations include Athens and Brussels, Manchester, Milan, Istanbul and Helsinki.

On a quick walk through western focussed review websites including SkyTrax and Tripadvisor, there seem a preponderance of negative reveiw, mainly focussed on back-end service and lack of communication. However, their food and service are not well-reviewed either. Some complaints about cancellations do go back to 2021, when border closures where a far less predictable thing.

However, there seem to be a lot of ‘worst airline ever’ and ‘never again’ and ‘horrible experience’ reviews on TripAdvisor, so look before you leap on this one. More positive reviews note that this is a low-cost airline, and you get what you pay for.

Remember that the negative reviews seem primarily to be from westerners, and seem to have a language and cultural component, with many focusing on lack of English language skills, or non-Chinese entertainment options.

Boeing 787 Dreamliners with Business Class

Juneyao will be servicing the debut Australian routes with Boeing 787s that have 29 lie-flat Business Class seats. They are based on the Thompson Vantage XL mechanics that also for the basis of Qantas business suites.

Expect a 1-2-1 layout with good storage and work space plus free WiFi for the whole trip.

Juneyao Air is aligned with Star Alliance as a connecting partner. That means you can earn points with other Star Alliance members frequent flyer programs, and also redeem points on Juneyao flights through those programs.

2PAXfly Takeout

It’s always good to welcome a new international airline to Australia. With anecdotal evidence that Hong Kong is losing its frantic charm, it will be good to enter China through exciting Shanghai.

If you are planning to book with Juneyao Air, check the online reviews, although there are precious few in English for their Business product. If you get a bargain, then temper your expectations with the price you paid.

I would be booking through a travel agent. Just so if things go wrong, I have some access to third-party skills to sort it. I think that’s prudent given the adverse views about Juneyao Air’s English language customer service.