When Hainan Airlines initially launched its flights connecting Edinburgh and Dublin with Beijing back in June it began as a four-times weekly service, but fast forward to October and the route looks set to see its second frequency drop after just four months.
According to the airline’s current schedule, the route, which alternates between flying Beijing-Edinburgh-Dublin-Beijing and Beijing-Dublin-Edinburgh-Beijing, will be flown just twice a week from October 28 onwards – once per week on either routing.
As previously reported by Business Traveller, Hainan Airlines had already planned on decreasing frequency on the route from the end of October to just three flights per week, with one of its Beijing-Dublin-Edinburgh flights being dropped. Now it appears the Beijing-Edinburgh-Dublin routing is due to see the same fate.
Throughout the winter season, flights (HU749/HU750) doing the Beijing-Edinburgh-Dublin-Beijing routing will fly on Tuesday only, while those doing the Beijing-Dublin-Edinburgh-Beijing routing (HU751/HU752) will operate just on Sunday.
Both flights are currently operated by the airline’s Boeing 787 Dreamliner aircraft.
Hainan Airlines is not alone in decreasing frequency on its operations to the Scottish capital. On Monday, Dubai-based Emirates launched its inaugural flight to Edinburgh – the first of what was originally planned on being a daily service. However last month the carrier announced that the daily frequency will drop to just five times a week from October 28 until June 1 next year.
Edinburgh’s long-haul expansion ambitions were further dashed last month when it emerged that budget carrier Norwegian would be scrapping all three of its transatlantic routes out of the city.
