By David Li, bostonese.com
Boston, June 17, 2014, — As the launch of nonstop flight between Boston and Beijing is only three days away, local travel agencies are preparing for the increasing number of tourists from China with the nonstop flights. China has become the No. 1 country in the world in terms of tourists traveling abroad. Sunshine Travel shared the following photo on Weibo, a popular social media platform in Chinese language.
Hainan Airlines to provide free shuttle bus service from downtown Boston to Logan Airport to celebrate the launching of the nonstop flight.
Sue Chen, manager of SunShine Travel in Boston Chinatown, has been busy putting together tour packages for the busy summer season. “We have many attractive tour packages for East Coast, West Coast and Yellow Stone National Park. It’s very exciting to see the nonstop flight between Boston and China will become reality this Friday as we have been waiting for years,” said Ms. Chen. She also pointed out that the nonstop flight between Boston and Dubai was launched by Emirates Airline on March 10, 2014.
The agreement to open the nonstop route between Boston and Beijing was signed by Massport and Hainan Airlines a few years ago. However, the launching of the flight was delayed due to the delay of delivery of Boeing 787 dreamliner, according to Chen Feng, president of the board of Hainan Airlines. Mr. Chen was in Boston in April to attend a ceremony with Gov. Patrick to celebrate the opening of the nonstop flight.
“We will have four flights a week starting from June 20 on Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday. As we receive more Boeing 787 planes, hopefully we will have daily nonstop flights between Boston and Beijing from August 2014, ” said Chen Feng at open ceremony of 2014 Harvard China Forum.
Lily Zhuang, manager of FETI travel in Boston Chinatown, was very proud of the fact that she had sold some of the first few tickets for the inaugural nonstop flight from Boston to Beijing. “When I checked the system in the morning of an early December 2013 work day, tickets of the nonstop flight just became available. I helped seven customers purchase tickets on the very first nonstop flight on June 20 that morning,” said Ms. Zhuang in a phone interview with excitement in her voice.
Details about the nonstop flight between Beijing and Boston from Hainan Airlines’ website
Hainan Airlines’s plans four nonstop flights between Beijing and Boston every week on Monday, Wednesday, Friday or Saturday. Flight HU481 departs at 13:50 from Beijing Capital International Airport and arrives in Boston at 15:10 local time. The return Flight HU482 departs from the Boston at 17:10 local time and arrives in Beijing at 18:50 local time.
Beijing to Boston route will use Boeing 787. The plane has 213 seats in total, including 36 in business class with 2-2-2 layout; 177 in economy class, using 3-3-3 seating layout. 787 dream planes are equipped with more stable flight technology system, which substantially increased flying stability, will bring you a new flying experience.
Hainan Airlines had established nonstop flights from Beijing to Chicago, Seattle, and Toronto over past few years. The nonstop flight between Beijing and Boston will be a very significant step in creating Hainan Airelines’ North American network. Please go to Hainan Airline official site global.hnair.com for further information.