An at record high, and rising
from three to five a week and introduced the new Boeing 787 Dreamliner to the route eight month after it launched a direct Chengdu-London service.
In 2015, United Airlines increased the frequency a thrice-weekly nonstop route between San Francisco and Chengdu to daily.
Tracy Dedman, British Airways’ regional general manager for Greater China and the Philippines, said the company saw huge potential in Chengdu, as it moves rapidly into a world-class international aviation hub.
“We are sure UK leisure travelers will be extremely keen to visit Chengdu as well as experience the excellent cuisine and rich culture of China, a civilization much older than our own,” she said.
Jake Cefolia, United’s vice-president of Atlantic and Pacific Sales, said he was very excited about the opening of the direct route because Chengdu is a city with such unique attractions.
“We evaluated Chengdu for over five years, and we finally picked it out from so many competing cities because of its rich business opportunities and tourism resources,” he said.
Cefolia said more than half of the Fortune 500 companies had established a presence in the city, many of which are partners of United and they asked for a nonstop route to Chengdu.
United’s research also shows that Chengdu is an access to a market of 200 million people.
In September 2013, Chengdu became the first city in western China to adopt the 72-hour visafree policy, which allows passengers from 51 countries to spend three days in the city if they have valid third-country visas and flight tickets to onward destinations.
Chengdu plans to open three additional international nonstop routes in each of the next five years, which will give the city a total of 55 international nonstop routes by 2020, according to Chengdu Port and Logistics Office.
It said the city is to be an ideal transfer station that connects Europe, Africa and the Middle East to Southeast Asia, Oceania and North America.