China Eastern will begin operations between Shanghai Pudong International Airport and Toronto Pearson International Airport on June 25.
The route will be operated by an A340-600 with 322 seats in three classes – eight first class seats arranged 1-2-1; 42 business in a 2-2-2 format and 272 economy configured 2-4-2.
The service departs Shanghai every Wednesday, Friday and Sunday at 1240 and lands in Toronto at 1425 local time. The return leg leaves 1625 with a touch down in Shanghai at 1840.
The Chinese aviation industry has been developing fast over the past few years (Click here to read “Chinese aviation takes off” in the April 2014 issue of Business Traveller Asia-Pacific, and here to subscribe). Besides this new service from China Eastern, other Chinese airlines have also been launching long-haul services directly from Mainland China, to places like New York (see here) and Frankfurt (see here) via China southern, and a Washington DC (see here) service from Air China.
Passengers from China used to have to transit through Hong Kong International Airport in order to reach destinations in as Europe and the Americas. Drangonair has received much of its business from transferring passengers from Chinese cities to Hong Kong for this purpose, while sister airline Cathay Pacific (CX) dominated the long-haul services out of Hong Kong. When asked about whether the aviation situation in China may threaten the status of Hong Kong as a transit hub, CX had the following response:
“Cathay Pacific and its sister airline Dragonair are currently operating some 400 flights a week to some 22 Mainland Chinese destinations, and operating flights that connect passengers to and from some 180 destinations worldwide. China is one of the fastest growing travel markets in the world, and Hong Kong, with its geographical location and efficient air connectivity, is well positioned to benefit from this development. Our latest traffic figures release indicates a 4.3 per cent increase in the total number of passengers carried for the first three months of the year. We must highlight that we are also transiting passengers not limited to those in and out of Mainland China, as we also connect passengers via the Hong Kong hub from India to North America, Australia to Europe, Southeast Asia to the Middle East, to name just a few.”
For more information, visit www.flychinaeastern.com
Valerian Ho
