Hainan Airlines’ growing focus on North America continues, with the Chinese carrier announcing this week that it plans to open up a new route between Chongqing and New York JFK this year starting October 20.
The first non-stop route between central and western China and New York, the service follows the airline’s other recently launched service between the Chinese city and the US – its twice-weekly Chongqing-Los Angeles flights. As with the Los Angeles service, the New York route will be flown twice weekly (Wednesday, Friday from Chongqing and Thursday, Saturday from New York).
Also similar to its other recent North America routes, flights HU415/HU416 are expected to be flown by Hainan Airlines’ B787-8 Dreamliners, which it configures with 36 lie-flat business class seats and 177 economy class seats. These are not to be confused with its recently revamped B787-9 Dreamliner layout, which the airline will be deploying on its two recently announced services from Shanghai to Brussels and Tel Aviv.
Along with its service from Chongqing to Los Angeles, Hainan Airlines also recently began flying from Chengdu to Los Angeles, as well as launching a new Beijing-Las Vegas route last December.
Details of the Chongqing-New York route are as follows (all times local):
| Flight No. | From | To | Departs | Arrives | Days |
| HU415 | Chongqing | New York | 2200 | 0050+1 | Wed, Fri |
| HU416 | New York | Chongqing | 0250 | 0635+1 | Thu, Sat |
