Chinese airlines fly to the top of brand rankings

"Chinese airline brand values are taking off as they spread their wings with greater growth beyond the domestic market."

That's according to research undertaken by Brand Finance for their recent publication Airlines 50 2018.

A plane of China Southern Airlines.[File Photo: cctv.com]

The report shows that three Chinese airlines were in the list of the top ten most valuable airline brands for the last year – a figure that's second only to the USA.

China Southern was found to be the most valuable Chinese airline brand (and the sixth highest internationally) with China Eastern in second position (seventh internationally) and Air China in third (ninth internationally).

However, none of these brands was the fastest growing in China.

That award went to Hainan Airlines, whose brand was found to have grown by a whopping 79 percent in value over the last year.

That figure means that Hainan was the second fastest growing airline brand in the world, after Air Asia.

CEO of Brand Finance, David Haigh, said:

"In the airline market, customers are making decisions about brands on a very narrow range of factors: price, routing, and schedules."

"Despite big viral news stories which gained media attention globally affecting several brands, in the airline business, it is reliability on delivering core services that customers find key in taking purchasing decisions."

"Consequently, the Chinese brands are the big winners in this area as they have been able to grow their brands by giving customers greater confidence in their dependability and safety as they grow alongside the Chinese economy."