A Hainan flight arrives at an airport in Los Angeles from Chengdu, capital of Southwest China's Sichuan Province. (Photo/Courtesy of Hainan Airlines)
Hainan Airlines eyes western U.S.
In less than a week, one of China's largest airlines opened two direct flights from Southwest China to Los Angeles in an effort to grab a bigger piece of one of the world's fast-growing commercial flight markets.
On Tuesday, Hainan Airlines opened a direct route from Southwest China's Chongqing to Los Angeles, the first direct route between the two cities, following its March 15 launch of a direct route to the U.S. city from Chengdu, capital of Southwest China's Sichuan Province.
So far, the airline has 12 routes to the U.S., making it China's carrier with the most routes between the two countries.
Once the dark horse of China's airline industry, Hainan Airlines took fewer than nine years to become a dominant force in the industry.
A champion challenged
Air China has long reigned over the market for flights between the U.S. and China, but Hainan Airlines has come to challenge that dominance.
For a long time, Hainan airlines kept its ambitions hidden. In January 2016, the airline tapped into Los Angles with a route from Changsha, capital of Central China's Hunan Province.
In June 2016, however, it opened three routes from China to the U.S. within a short span of eight days, doubling its number of routes between the two countries.
In comparison, Air China launched a single route to the U.S. in 2016 - from Shanghai to San Jose. The route opened in September 2016.
It's clear that Air China is unhappy with the challenge. The airline is waiting for deliveries of Boeing 787 and Airbus A350 aircraft, which it expects to put into operation before 2018. It is believed that the aircraft will help the airline expand further into the U.S.
So far, Air China remains the biggest player in China in terms of transport capacity.
Targeting second-tier cities
Four Chinese airlines operate direct routes between China and the U.S.: Air China, China Southern Airlines, China Eastern Airlines and Hainan Airlines. There are also four U.S. airlines with route between the two countries: -United Airlines, American Airlines, Delta Air Lines and Hawaiian Airlines. With the growing competition, airlines have focused their new efforts on China's second-tier cities.
Hainan Airlines has set its sights on these cities and it has been rapidly introducing large aircraft such as the Boeing 787 to handle the long-haul flights. For its route from Chengdu to Los Angeles, for example, the airline has deployed a Boeing 787-8 with 36 business class seats and 177 economy class seats.
In a statement sent to the Global Times on March 15, the airline said it believes its routes from second-tier Chinese cities to the first-tier cities overseas will be what differentiates it from its competitors.
In March, some Chinese airlines released market data from the previous month. China Southern served 9.92 million passengers in February, the highest among the airlines, according to data from the industry news portal carnoc.com. Meanwhile, the number of passengers flying on Hainan Airlines international routes shot up 110 percent year-on-year in February.
More competitors
Smaller airlines have also begun to launch international flights from second-tier cities.
On March 17, Sichuan Airlines applied to open a route from Chengdu to Los Angeles via Zhengzhou, capital of Central China's Henan Province.
Sichuan Airlines has opened three routes from Chengdu to Los Angeles, with stopovers in Hangzhou, capital of East China's Zhejiang Province and Jinan, capital of East China's Shandong Province. In 2015, China Eastern opened a route from Chengdu to Los Angeles via a stop in Nanjing, capital of East China's Jiangsu Province.
In February, Chengdu ranked among the top airports in China in terms of the number of flights, according to data from the carnoc.com. It came in behind Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, capital of South China's Guangdong Province and Kunming, capital of Southwest China's Yunnan Province.
In July 2016, United Airlines opened a direct route from LA to Hangzhou, adding to its routes to second-tier cities, which already included Chengdu and Xi'an, capital of Northwest China's Shaanxi Province.
In addition, more carriers are introducing new aircraft. In October 2016, China Southern, the county's largest carrier in terms of the fleet size, finalized an order for 12 787-9 Dreamliners, valued at $3.2 billion. The new aircraft are supposed to help the airline expand further into North America.
