The Haikou-based airline wants to introduce seven long-haul routes from Beijing and one each from Hangzhou and Nanjing, said one of the people who asked not to be named because the expansion plans are private.
China’s fourth largest and biggest privately owned carrier is seeking to capitalize on strong growth in Chinese tourist and business passenger numbers. International passenger totals from China grew by 19% in September, aviation consultancy OAG said in a new report.
China’s economic slowdown isn’t expected to have a major impact on international flying. “While the Chinese economy may not grow quite so fast in 2015, the growth in Chinese outbound travel is here to stay,” OAG said in the report on air travel trends for next year.
The Chinese carrier’s route expansion plans are still preliminary and require government approvals, the people said.
Gaining air traffic rights can be difficult in the highly regulated airline business, often leading to delays of expansion plans. Aigle Azur, a French carrier in which Hainan Airlines’ parent, HNA Group, owns a minority stake, had to scrap plans to fly to Beijing after it failed to secure all the required government backing for the link.
Planned route additions for Hainan Airlines flights from Beijing include New York and London, two of the biggest international aviation markets. Hainan Airlines would also link the Chinese capital with Manchester, Montreal, Oakland, Nairobi and Tel Aviv, the people said. Other planned additions include Hangzhou to Los Angeles and Nanjing to San Francisco.
The Chinese carrier wants to tap markets otherwise not well served. Flights to Tel Aviv would start in September. Hainan Airlines would be only the second carrier to offer a direct link between Israel and China. Israel’s flag carrier El Al also offers a service. The Chinese carrier would fly the route three times a week.
Traffic between China and Israel is growing fast according to data from Israel’s Ministry of Tourism and reached 35,000 visitors this year from 13,000 in 2010. The jump comes as the pace of Chinese investments in Israeli-based technology companies has accelerated rapidly over the past two years.
Hainan Airlines has a fleet of 136 aircraft and has been adding Boeing Co. 787 Dreamliner jets to support its global expansion. The carrier has taken delivery of eight of the long-range jets over the past 17 months. The airline, which also operates planes from Airbus Group NV to international destinations, ordered eight A330 jets from the European plane maker this year.
Source: Wall Street Journal by Orr Hirschauge and Joanne Chiu
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