Business passenger exclusive takes to skies

Beijing (CNS) -- Hong Kong Airlines (HKA) has introduced the first A330-200 all business class passenger plane in the world, and one arrived at the Beijing Capital International Airport at 11:25 a.m. on Wednesday to begin an exhibition tour in the municipality.

This is not only the first business class only aircraft in China's civil aviation industry, but also the very first to sport two bars and allow WIFI surfing through an OnAir system during the entire journey, said Shu Xiaobin, deputy director at HKA.

The 116-seat aircraft was converted from its previous 283-seat design, allowing more space and comfort to each passenger. The 34 seats in the front of the plane adjust to become a 1.85-meter-long horizontal bed; and the remaining 82 are arranged in three columns, six in a row. Cabin lights can be changed to three soft hues of red, blue and yellow.

From March 7, HKA will run a daily return flight between Hong Kong and London. Passengers from Beijing can fly to Hong Kong aboard three A330 flights every day; but if they are booking through to London via Hong Kong, the Beijing-Hong Kong leg of the journey is included in the price of the Hong Kong-London flight. The shortest turnover for picking up the connection to London is one hour and 25 minutes.

The price for an A330-200 flight is fixed around 20,000 Hong Kong dollars for the front 34 seats and 14,000 for the rest. By the end of this month, HKA will introduce its second aircraft of this kind, and a third is slated to be running on the Shanghai-Hong Kong line in June.