为何韩亚失事航班上中国乘客众多

Seoul has become an important transit gateway for many Chinese travelers connecting to cities in the U.S. and Canada. The reason? Passengers are lured by attractive prices and a dearth of transpacific nonstop flights from China.

对许多前往美国和加拿大城市的中国旅客来说，首尔已经成了一个重要的中转站，原因何在？这既是因为乘客们受到了有吸引力的机票价格的诱惑，也是因为从中国到北美的直达航班数量不足。

This helps explain why nearly half, or 141, of the 291 passengers aboard an Asiana Airlines flight from Seoul that crashed at the San Francisco airport were Chinese nationals. Both passengers killed on Saturday's flight were female Chinese nationals, according to the South Korean Foreign Ministry.

这有助于解释韩亚航空(Asiana Airlines)那架在旧金山失事的班机上全部291名乘客中为何有近一半（141人）是中国人。据韩国外交部说，上周六发生的这起事故中丧生的两名乘客都是中国女性。

For decades, the South Korean capital has played a key role for passenger travel between Asia and North America Korean Air Lines Co., the nation's biggest carrier, has for years offered flights to more cities in North America than any other Asian airline, and that remains the case, while Northwest Airlines, which in 2010 merged with Delta Air Lines Inc., operated a major hub out of Seoul until the early 1990s.

几十年来，首尔一直在亚洲和北美间的空中交通方面扮演着重要角色。韩国最大航空公司大韩航空(Korean Air Lines Co.)在北美的航班目的地多年来一直比任何其他的亚洲航空公司都多，目前依然是这种情况。而在2010年与达美航空公司(Delta Air Lines Inc.)合并的美国西北航空公司(Northwest Airlines)从上世纪90年代初起就将首尔作为了自己的一个主要航空枢纽。

But competition for passengers has intensified as many of the region's airlines expanded their own flights across the Pacific. In China, however, despite surging demand for flights to North America, the nation's mainly state-owned airlines have been slow to add capacity, thus keeping fares higher. U.S.-China flights are also governed by a highly regulated bilateral treaty, making it less flexible for airlines to increase services as needed.

但随着亚洲地区的许多航空公司纷纷增加往返太平洋两岸的航班，各航空公司争夺客源的竞争也愈演愈烈。但在中国，尽管市场对北美航线的航班需求大幅增长，但中国几大国有航空公司在增加飞行运力方面却一直行动迟缓，因此机票价格不断上涨。美中航班数量还受到了两国间一个受到高度监管的双边协议的限制，这一协议降低了航空公司为满足市场需要而增加航班数量方面的灵活性。

Transpacific nonstop flights from China mainly originate from Beijing or Shanghai. There is also limited service from the southern city of Guangzhou. This means passengers elsewhere must travel through one of these cities to get to North America.

中国飞往北美的跨太平洋直达航班主要从北京或上海出发。南方城市广州与北美间也有数量不多的几趟直达航班。这意味着中国其他地方的人要想前往北美，必须前往上述这几座城市搭乘飞机。

Airlines in South Korea and Japan significantly boosted their Chinese services in the last few years, in part to cater to the rising demand of transit passenger traffic. Korean Air now flies to some 22 mainland Chinese cities from its Seoul hub, while Asiana operates to 21 Chinese cities, being two of the biggest foreign airlines operating in the country. Meanwhile Japan Airlines flies to 15 mainland Chinese cities.

过去几年中，韩国和日本的航空公司大幅增加了飞中国的航班数量，这一定程度上意在满足过境旅客数量不断增长带来的需求。大韩航空目前在首尔与中国大陆约22个城市间开通了航班，韩亚航空在韩国与中国21个城市间有航班服务，这两家公司的中国业务规模在拥有在华业务的外国航空公司中都名列前茅。日本航空(Japan Airlines)有飞往中国大陆15个城市的航班。

The territorial spat between Japan and China has helped divert more China-originating transpacific traffic through South Korea, according to analysts. Passengers are also attracted by cheap prices offered by many of these airlines.

据分析人士说，日本与中国间的领土纠纷促使更多从中国前往北美的旅客转而经由韩国进行中转。许多韩国航空公司提供的廉价机票也对乘客产生了吸引力。

To illustrate, roundtrip economy fares between Shanghai and San Francisco sell for as low as 4,800 yuan on Asiana Airlines' website, while a nonstop flight on state-owned China Eastern Airlines Corp. could cost around 7,600 yuan, according to the China Eastern website.

举例来说，在韩亚航空公司的网站上，最低可以只花人民币4,800元就能买到上海与旧金山间的经济舱往返机票，而中国国有的中国东方航空公司(China Eastern Airlines Corp.)的网站显示，该公司上海与旧金山间直飞航班的机票价格可能达到人民币7,600元左右。