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Route explosion continues with Sanya-London and Guiyang-Moscow announced
June 15th 2018
There is never a shortage of route announcements from Mainland China. Read More » From July 12, China Southern Airlines will operate a twice-weekly Sanya-Heathrow service, which is an extension of its Guangzhou-Sanya flights.
The route will operate on Thursdays and Sundays with a A330-200 configured with four first class, 24 business class, 48 economy plus and 142 standard economy class seats. It will be the first intercontinental flight from the resort island of Hainan.
On May 1, the Chinese government expanded its visa-free visitor policy to include 30-day visa free stays for nationals from a long list of countries, including the U.S., U.K., Germany and France, on condition they book their trips through travel agencies.
China Southern has been paying particular attention to expansion of its presence at Heathrow Airport. On May 30, it launched three times a week Wuhan-Heathrow flights, also served by four-class A330-200s. Earlier this year, the SkyTeam member increased Guangzhou-Heathrow to double daily.
China Southern is not the only carrier seeking a bigger footprint in London. HNA Group carriers Beijing Capital Airlines, Hainan Airlines and Tianjin Airlines launched connections between London and Qingdao, Changsha and Xian this year.
China’s flag carrier, Air China, also will commence three flights a week between Chengdu and Gatwick with A330-300s from July 3.
In the meantime, on Tuesday Hainan Airlines launched a Beijing-Edinburgh-Dublin A330-300 route, which was the first scheduled air link between China, Scotland and Ireland.
“This is a momentous day as we connect not only Edinburgh and Beijing for the first time, but Scotland and China. It is a route that has immense opportunities for our countries, from tourism and business to culture, education and more,” said Edinburgh Airport CEO, Gordon Dewar.
“Four flights per week won't be enough,” said Pan Xinchun, China's consul general in Edinburgh. “We hope we can have flights every day in the near future.”
Also on Tuesday, Russia’s Royal Flight Airlines inaugurated a weekly Guiyang-Moscow B767-300ER charter route.
