Having worked in China since the mid-00?s, one thing that has never changed is that domestic flights in mainland China tend to always be full between major cities. 
One? recent change is the dramatic increase in the cost of flying domestically. Typical round-trip airfare between Shanghai and Beijing is about $300-$400.? Beijing to Shenzhen is even higher, approaching $400 to $600.
When I first started making the weekly Beijing to Shanghai trek, I found an even mix of business and leisure travelers (Business travelers like most around the world stick out like a sore thumb.? Wearing business dress, traveling solo, or using a notebook always gives us away.? Now the planes are packed mostly with business travelers.
Forbes recently highlighted this trend in a recent article: What Turbulence? China Spending On Business Travel May Surpass U.S. By 2015:
?Business?travel spending in China will grow by 17% to $202 billion this year and increase another 21% to $245 billion in 2013, according to the Global Business?Travel?Association.?
Many business travelers are foregoing air travel and taking the train. The new high-speed train between Beijing and Shanghai takes about the same time as flying (taking into account driving and waiting for the flight) and is a lot cheaper, with one way tickets around $100.
If you do choose to fly, the online travel booking sites Ctrip and Elong are both excellent.? They have fully-functional English sites allowing you to use foreign credit cards (must be purchased 24 hours before flight time) and store passenger information.? Booking a flight takes less than 5 minutes and their customer service is excellent.
Business travel in China is expensive but at least the tools are easy to use.
Mark Beckford, CEO of NetBridge Global
Source: http://netbridgeglobal.com/insights/2012/08/business-travel-china-style/
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