Jane Chen / Shanghai Daily news

Carriers are revving up the competition for flights between China and Britain, betting on a business boom on the route after July, when the United Kingdom will be opened to Chinese tourists, today's Shanghai Morning Post reported.
British Airways, the UK's largest international airline, announced it was adding seats its service between Shanghai and London, a key route between the two countries, to five flights per week as of June 2 and was marking down the price of a round-trip ticket from the existing 5,500 yuan (US$665) to 3,990 yuan.
Its main rival, Virgin Atlantic Airways Ltd, the other key British airline that has operated on the route for six years, said it will follow suit and offer the same 3,990 yuan fare starting in June.
In response, Shanghai-based China Eastern Airlines Co Ltd has entered the competition with a plan to lower the price on the route from the present 4,900 yuan to around 3,400 yuan starting in June.  The price could be reduced even further to 2,280 yuan for buyers of over 10 tickets.
Virgin Atlantic is regarding the British Airways' entry as a development resulting from its large ambitions for the China-London air travel market, according to its China sales and marketing manager Yang Huifeng. 
Yang predicted a 20 percent growth for the Shanghai-London air route shortly after July, and expected the growth to remain at around 15 percent after six months.
China Eastern seemed reluctant to become involved in the price competition.  Starting the Shanghai-London service last year, China Eastern is the third and only Chinese carrier of this route.
Its spokesperson said the company had no alternative but to follow a low-price strategy in order to maintain its already low market share.
The company, along with other domestic carriers, had proposed that China's aviation industry authority re-introduce a fuel surcharge to help cover increased fuel costs.  But earlier this month, a senior official with the Civil Aviation Administration of China said the CAAC has no yet plan to re-add the surcharge.