One of the airlines is speculated to be China Southern, the worlds sixth largest airline.
China Southern operate services from both Guangzhou and Shenzhen. They serve Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth, Adelaide and most recently Cairns, from December this year.
Push to secure direct Darwin to China flights continues after Lauren Moss visit
NT News | 3 July 2017
The push to secure direct flights between Darwin and China continues to gather pace.
Tourism Minister Lauren Moss said high-level delegations from two Chinese airlines would visit Darwin in the near future for further talks with the Territory Government on direct services.
Ms Moss said the airlines had committed to visiting Darwin during her whistlestop visit to Chinese cities Guangzhou and Shenzhen last week.
The trip to Guangzhou and Shenzhen followed the shock news last month that Malaysia Airlines was withdrawing its direct Darwin to Kuala Lumpur return service.
Ms Moss continued to remain tight-lipped about the names of the two Chinese airlines she met with, but said she held very positive and productive meetings with presidents from the airlines.
“We are operating in a highly competitive commercial environment, and as such, we cannot provide further details of the confidential discussions at this stage,” Ms Moss said.
“Our delegation, which included representatives from the Northern Territory Government and the NT Airports, was well received by the presidents and executives of the airlines.”
Discussions were wide ranging and touched on business, trade and visitor economy considerations, she said.
One of the airlines the government was understood to have met with was China Southern Airlines, which recently struck a deal to start operating a direct flight service to Cairns from Guangzhou in December.
The new service will be able to carry up to 33,000 passengers a year and was expected to provide an annual $30 million boost to the Tropical North Queensland economy.
Cairns Airport chief executive Norris Carter estimated the flights had the potential to generate up to $44.2 million a year and create nearly 300 new jobs.