All systems go for Scotland as direct flights to China begin
When Hainan Airlines announced a new direct route from Beijing to Edinburgh a few months ago, I got pretty excited about it, as did many others.
I’ve lived abroad for most of my adult life, mostly in Hong Kong, and the annual or biannual pilgrimage home has always been a long, protracted experience involving at least two flights and a lot of lost sleep.
A few years back when new routes opened up to Scotland via the Middle East, I ditched the tortuous transfers at Heathrow and Charles de Gaulle airports in favor of a more convenient switch in the Gulf, and a nicer flight on a newer wide-bodied jet out of Dubai or Qatar.
So with this new service on an equally slick carrier, the prospect of a seamless flight home is not only something of a novelty, but in terms of travel convenience, it’s positively a game changer.
And the new flight route — which also goes to Dublin to provide a twice-weekly direct service from the Irish capital to Beijing — opens up a host of holiday possibilities, as I’ve never visited Ireland and have wanted to go there for years.
But it wasn’t until Hainan Airlines launched the service on June 12 that I realized what a big deal it was for lots of other people, and for Scotland in particular — especially in terms of the boost to trade and tourism it is certain to provide.
This became clear from the minute airline executives from the fast-growing carrier in Haikou, Hainan province, touched down on the tarmac in Edinburgh. Scotland’s capital rolled out the red carpet and airport executives, tourism and business leaders were out in force to deliver the warmest of welcomes.
Amid the usual flurry of tartan, bagpipes and inflatable pandas, it was all systems go for the new venture, which finally came to fruition following a number of top-level trade delegations between China and Scotland as well as several initiatives organized by Visit Scotland and Scottish Enterprise, the country’s national tourism and trade organizations. Interestingly, the latter currently runs a program helping local businesses ensure they are ‘Chinaready’ and advising them on how to trade with partners on this side of the world.
Trade between China and Scotland is of paramount importance to the Scottish government, which sees China as one of its top five sources of investment, especially in the country’s energy sector. Tech and travel also figure highly in this respect, as seen by the huge investment following in the wake of Chinese travel giant Ctrip’s acquisition of Skyscanner, a travel search site in Edinburgh, and something of a local success story in tech circles.
In terms of tourism, the number of Chinese visitors visiting Scotland has jumped by nearly 200 percent in the space of a decade. Around 40,000 people travel from China each year for a holiday or business trip in Scotland, staying an average of 12 days — quite an enviable figure and one that’s helping to fuel the local economy. In fact, Edinburgh is the most popular travel destination in the United Kingdom for Chinese tourists after London.
At the same time, more than 8,000 Chinese youngsters currently study in Scotland, and this number is only set to increase as the first Scottish universities receive accreditation in China.
More than this, the new flight route represents something of a two-way street that’s sure to lead to more travel, study and trade between China and Scotland. Best of all, for me, it’s taken the chore out of trying to choose the most hassle-free route back home this year.
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