Hainan Airlines to Open New Link to Istanbul

Richard Maslen May 19, 2011

Hainan Airlines is to introduce the first direct service between Urumqi, the capital of China’s Xinjiang Province, and Istanbul. The airline has confirmed it will offer a twice weekly connection between the two cities from July 11, with the flight continuing to Shanghai Pu Dong. Hainan will be able to generate additional international traffic by serving both local markets.

There are currently only limited links between Urumqi and Europe, with China Southern Airlines and S7 Airlines offering flights into Moscow and Novosibirsk in Russia and Azerbaijan Airlines and China Southern serving Baku. An estimated 38,000 O&D passengers travelled between the city and Europe in the past year, but Hainan Airlines will expect to stimulate demand by offering the new direct connection. Shanghai is already served directly from Istanbul by Turkish Airlines (THY), with a daily Boeing 777-300ER service.

Hainan Airlines currently offers over 80 weekly flights from Urumqi to ten domestic Chinese destinations, although it does not currently fly to Shanghai Pu Dong. The new link will be operated by an Airbus A330 configured with 34 lie-flat Business Class seats (2-2-2 configuration) and 179 Economy seats (2-4-2 layout).

SCHEDULE ANALYSIS: HAINAN AIRLINES (China – Europe – Summer 2011)
Origin	Destination	Type	Frequency	Weekly Seats
Beijing Capital International	Berlin Tegel	A330	4	776
	Brussels	A330	4	776
	Budapest Ferihegy	767	4	1,140
	Moscow Sheremetyevo	A340	3	834
	St Petersburg	767	3	855
	Zurich	A330	3	663
Shanghai Pu Dong	Brussels	A330	3	582
TOTAL			24	5,626

The Turkish city will be its seventh destination in Europe, adding to its existing flights from Beijing to Berlin, Brussels, Budapest, Moscow and St Petersburg and from Shanghai to Brussels, as well as a new link from Beijing to Zurich which will launch on May 31 (see above table).