China Jap introduced resumption of Shanghai Pudong–Stockholm direct flights beginning June 22, working three weekly spherical journeys.
This marks the route’s first return since its suspension in 2020 as a result of pandemic.
This vital air hyperlink between China and Northern Europe was first launched in June 2018, turning into the primary direct flight between Shanghai and Sweden.
With the route’s resumption, journey time from Shanghai to Sweden might be diminished to about 12 hours. Beforehand, most flights required connections in European cities corresponding to Paris, with whole journey occasions typically approaching 20 hours and, in some circumstances, exceeding 30 hours.
For China Jap, this is a crucial step in increasing its presence in Northern Europe. The Shanghai–Stockholm route isn’t solely China Jap’s first Northern European service but additionally the one direct connection from Shanghai to Sweden.
Actually, direct flights between China and Sweden have traditionally been restricted.
Within the first half of 2025, there was just one direct route between the 2 international locations, operated by Air China on the Beijing–Stockholm line. Throughout the identical interval, the route carried 74,400 passengers, a 16.9% year-on-year improve, with a 76.6% common load issue.
By way of passenger composition, the Beijing route depends extra on enterprise and authorities journey, whereas Shanghai has a stronger base of tourism and worldwide switch passengers. Direct flights to the identical European vacation spot from each hub cities can entice a extra various passenger combine and helps enhance the general stability of the route.
On the demand facet, restoration has additionally supported the reopening of Northern European routes. In response to the Swedish Nationwide Vacationer Board, from January to August 2025, in a single day stays by Chinese language guests in Sweden elevated by greater than 51% yr on yr.
In the meantime, the journey conduct of Chinese language vacationers is altering. Li Chunmei, Chief Consultant of the Swedish Nationwide Vacationer Board in China, famous that Chinese language vacationers visiting Northern Europe beforehand tended to hitch multi-country group excursions. In recent times, nevertheless, the proportion of impartial journey has elevated considerably, with youthful vacationers and senior vacationers more and more selecting in-depth journeys to international locations corresponding to Sweden and Finland.
This shift in journey patterns has, to some extent, pushed rising demand for direct flights.
