Hainan Airlines Gets Green Light for Boston Link

Chinese carrier Hainan Airlines has received approval from the US Department of Transportation (DOT) for its proposed new air service between Beijing and Boston, the first non-stop air link between the US city and China and only the second direct flight into Asia. The carrier has immediately opened reservations to launch the four times weekly route from June 20, 2014 using a Boeing 787 Dreamliner.

In its ruling, the DOT said the new service was “consistent with the public interest”, and that Hainan has demonstrated that it’s “financially and operationally qualified” to operate the flights. The carrier first introduced flights to the US in 2008 with a scheduled link to Seattle and it added services to Chicago earlier this year. Alongside Boston it is also set to introduce flights to Newark's Liberty International Airport from June 2014, subject to regulatory approval.

Boston’s Logan International Airport has been supported by local business leaders and tourism officials in pushing for direct flights to China. According to data, last year, China ranked as the state’s fourth largest foreign market, behind Canada, the United Kingdom, and Japan with Massachusetts business selling around $1.9 billion in merchandise to China.

Chinese visitors, meanwhile, are a growing segment of the state’s tourism industry, lured by the region’s high-profile universities, top-flight medical centers, historic sites, and shopping opportunities. Chinese executives are also coming to Boston to attend conferences and training sessions at local business schools.

According to statistics from the US Commerce Department only Canada and the UK had more international travellers to Massachusetts in 2012 when a reported 150,000 visitors from China visited the state, a nearly eight per cent increase from 2011 and a massive 287 per cent rise over the past four years. Those numbers could as much as double in the next five years, once non-stop service is added, according to the Greater Boston Convention and Visitors Bureau.

In its official filing with the US DOT last month, Hainan said it expects to increase flights between Boston and Beijing to a daily operation from August 2014 and hopes to handles just short of 60,000 passengers during its first 12 months of operation. According to MIDT data an estimated 57,000 bi-directional O&D passengers travelled between Boston and Beijing in 2012, up 11.5 per cent on the previous year. The main traffic flow last year was with American Airlines via Chicago.

In the table below we look in greater detail at the O&D demand between Boston and Beijing and the US city and the wider Chinese market during the past five years. Our analysis shows that point-to-point demand on the city pair has risen 75.7 per cent since 2008, while demand between Boston and the wider Chinese market has grown 73.6 per cent during the same period.