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Government seeks six North American routes from Harbin
August 31st 2018
China’s Heilongjiang Provincial government hopes to launch six routes from the state capital, Harbin, to North America by 2020. Read More » They are Harbin to Los Angeles, San Francisco and Anchorage in 2019 followed by Harbin to Seattle, Toronto and New York the next year.
At present, scheduled international destinations operating from Harbin are Seoul (Asiana Airlines), Taipei (EVA Airways), Singapore (Scoot) and Bangkok, Macau and Nagoya (Spring Airlines). Lion Air flies charter services to Denpasar.
The largest carrier in Harbin is China Southern Airlines. The Guangzhou-based carrier has significant long-haul capacity and China Southern is not shy when it comes to launching niche routes unserved by its competitors. Last month, it announced Shenyang-Los Angeles, the first route connecting the Northern Chinese metropolis with the U.S.
LJ Air told Orient Aviation it wanted to be Heilongjiang’s flag carrier.The airline plans to add seven A320s to its fleet this year followed by another seven A320s in 2019 and an A330 in November and in December of the same year.
In 2020, seven more A320s and two extra A330 wide bodies will join the fleet with another six A320 and three A330 scheduled to be delivered to the carrier.
Following the delivery of its first A330 on November 10, 2019 the airline intends to launch a two to three times a week flights from Harbin to Sydney followed by an A330 service to Singapore from December. In 2020, LJ wants to inaugurate San Francisco, followed by Melbourne, and then London-Heathrow, Paris and Los Angeles in 2021 with the its A330s.
Domestically, LJ will have 36 routes by 2021, including multiple daily flights to Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou. It hopes to be carrying four million passengers that year after building secondary hubs in Nanning and Xian and launching a frequent flyer programme.
Harbin Taiping International Airport is undergoing a major expansion, including a new runway, a 163,000m2 terminal and 43 new aprons. By 2020, the airport will be able to accommodate 22 million passengers, up from 16 million last year. The airport hopes to attract 42 million passengers by 2025 and 80 million by 2035.
