Shanghai-based China Eastern Airlines Corp., the country's second largest carrier by passenger numbers, said yesterday that it planned to fly to London starting from April, pitting it against UK-based Virgin Atlantic.

"We have that plan," said Sunny Zhou, a spokesman for the airline, adding that he did not know how many times a week the airline would fly the Shanghai-London route.

The carrier planned to halt its loss-making routes to Munich and Madrid and put some of the planes and crews on the new route to London, Zhou said.

Richard Branson's Virgin Atlantic Airways is the only other airline to fly the London-Shanghai route. It flies four times a week and has said it wants to increase the number of flights next year.

Chinese carriers, hit hard during the SARS outbreak which devastated the Asian airline business earlier this year, typically make most of their money on domestic routes, where they are subject to no competition from slicker foreign rivals.

While China Eastern's domestic passenger traffic has bounced back strongly from SARS -- it was up 47 percent in October from the same month last year -- international traffic has lagged behind, falling 9.65 percent in October.

Earlier there were speculation that Cathay Pacific might form a strategic partnership with China Eastern. And China Eastern's expansion plan comes after China Southern announced plan to work with Air France.

China Eastern shares were unchanged at HK$1.33 in early morning trade yesterday.

(Shenzhen Daily December 2, 2003)