Source: 21st Century Business Herald Released on: November 1, 2011

　　Once, with railway passenger-dedicated lines launched, the attendance of many medium- and short-haul flights plummeted and was grounded; but now, with the speed decrease of high-speed railway, the competitiveness of air travel emerges again and the flights are resumed.

　　Since October 30, winter route map will be implemented for civil aviation. It is learned that as the map shows, the short-haul flights between Nanjing and Wuhan and between Zhengzhou and Xi’an will be resumed.

　　When resumed, the flights between Nanjing and Wuhan will be operated by Hainan Airlines and Lucky Air, with one flight each day. The flights between Xi’an and Zhengzhou will be operated by Joy Air, with one flight each day.

　　Once, with the opening of Hefei-Nanjing Passenger-dedicated High-speed Railway and Hefei-Wuhan Passenger-dedicated High-speed Railway, all of flights between Nanjing and Wuhan were grounded from March 27.

　　At that time, it took only 3 hours to take high-speed railway from Wuhan to Nanjing, with 3 liners each day; the price of ticket for a second-class seat was only 180 RMB per capital; the attendance of the liners hit over 90%. The overhead price for air tickets (not including fuel charge and airport construction fee) was 730 RMB; given fuel charge and airport construction fee, the price of air ticket with a discount of 70% to 80% is still much higher than that of high-speed railway; at that time, the attendance of the liners was less than 50% and related airlines suffered serious losses. Up to March 27, the flight was finally grounded. The flight between Zhengzhou and Xi’an also suffered the same pressures. After high-speed railway between Zhengzhou and Xi’an was open, Joy Air stopped the air route a year and a half ago.

　　According to the analysis of Zhao Jian, a professor at School of Economics and Management of Beijing Jiaotong University, the reason why medium- and short-haul flights were resumed is that: Firstly, after Sheng Guangzu became railway minister, the running speed of high-speed railways was lowered. Presently, the speed of Hefei-Wuhan Passenger-dedicated High-speed Railway has been reduced from 250km/h to 200km/h, and the speed of Hefei-Wuhan Passenger-dedicated High-speed Railway has been reduced from 350km/h to 300km/h. It will take about 3 hours 50 minutes to take high-speed trains (D) from Wuhan to Nanjiang, 50 minutes more than the original period. It will also take over ten minutes more to take high-speed trains (G) form Zhengzhou to Xi’an than before; secondly, after Beijing-Shanghai high-speed railway was opened, accidents related to high-speed railway continually happened. In particular, extra serious 7.23 Accident left great impact to passengers’ mentality. People worry over the safety of high-speed railway, with some passengers turning from high-speed railway to civil aviation.

　　Analysts believe that, resumption of medium- and short-haul flights and more long-haul flights will “further reduce” the poor attendance of high-speed railway.