Starting December 27 this year, Hainan Airlines will launch a new non-stop service linking Chongqing and Budapest, the capital of Hungary.
The airline will fly this route twice a week on Mondays and Fridays. The outbound flight for Budapest is a red-eye scheduled to leave Chongqing Jiangbei International Airport at 0140 and arrive at Budapest Ferenc Liszt International Airport at 0530. The return flight is scheduled to depart from Budapest at 1240, before arriving in Chongqing at 0500 the following day.
Below is the flight schedule:
| Flight No. | From | To | Departs | Arrives | Days |
| HU791 | Chongqing (CKG) | Budapest (BUD) | 0140 | 0530 | Monday, Friday |
| HU792 | Budapest (BUD) | Chongqing (CKG) | 1240 | 0500 (+1) |
Hainan Airlines will deploy its 294-seater Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner on this route, which features 26 fully-flat business class seats in a 1-2-1 reverse herringbone configuration with noise cancelling headphones from Bose and toiletries from Clarins.
The aircraft also has 21 premium economy class seats in a 2-3-2 configuration and 247 economy class seats in a 3-3-3 configuration.
The airline said Hungary, a country that is part of China’s Belt and Road Initiative plan, is one of China’s most important trade partners in Central and Eastern Europe. It also said the introduction of the new non-stop route will provide new opportunities for trade and cultural exchange between the two countries.
Business Traveller Asia-Pacific recently reported that Shanghai Airlines is increasing the flight frequency on its Shanghai-Budapest service to daily this month.
The launch of Hainan Airlines’ new Chongqing-Budapest route marks the airline’s tenth international route departing from Chongqing, as well as the southwestern Chinese city’s first non-stop route to Central Europe.
Since 2015, Hainan Airlines has already launched non-stop services connecting Chongqing and Rome, Los Angeles, New York, Paris and Yangon. The airline has also introduced long-haul routes between Chongqing and North America, including its Chongqing-Beijing-Chicago, Chongqing-Beijing-Toronto, Chongqing-Shanghai-Boston and Chongqing-Shanghai-Seattle services.
What’s more, Tianjin Airlines, a subsidiary airline of the HNA Group, flies non-stop from Chongqing to London, Moscow, Melbourne and Auckland. Another low-cost HNA Group subsidiary airline, West Air, also operates flights between its Chongqing hub and Phuket, Osaka.
