Hainan Airlines to open 5 new routes
Chinese based Hainan Airlines has recently added five new routes to its network with their Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner to cope with the growing demand during the summer season.
The airline will start by adding three new frequencies to Europe and its first two services to Mexico. Four of the airline’s new routes are direct services while a stopover is required on Mexico City route. The average route length of all of the four direct connections is 9,770 kilometers. Frequencies on the five new routes vary from two to three per week.
For its South American network, Hainan Airlines has launched direct flights from Beijing to Mexico City via Tijuana, which is south of California. A four-hour layover is required at Tijuana for crew change and refueling. Previously, passengers had to connect through Vancouver with Air Canada or Tokyo with ANA to fly between Mexico City and Beijing, which takes over 17 hours. At 12,538 kilometers, the indirect 16 hour Mexico City route is the longest of the five new routes that the carrier intends to operate.
The Chinese airline also launched new nonstop services between Shenzhen and Brussels on March 20 and then added another new route two days later between Shenzhen and Madrid. The Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner which the airline operates on both these routes can seat up to 213 passengers in a two-class configuration.
(cockpit of Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner for Hainan Airlines)
Finally, direct flights between London Heathrow and Changsha, which is in Central China, was opened up on the 23rd March. This 14 hour (9,049-kilometre)flight is the shortest of all new sectors opened up. The London-Changsha flight is Hainan Airlines’ forth intercontential direct flight serving Changsha which is considered as a secondary city. Hainan Airlines also operates direct flights from Changsha to Los Angeles, Sydney and Melbourne at a monopoly. This flight also marks the carrier’s second nonstop service to Britain, following the rollout of the Beijing-Manchester service in June 2016. In addition, Hainan Airlines will launch the Beijing-Edinburgh-Dublin service on June 12 with Airbus A330-300.
(Hainan Airlines' network from its Beijing hub)
This aggressive expansion is followed by the success of the Beijing-Brussels and Shanghai-Brussels A330 flights, where the Chinese carrier later added new services between Shenzhen and Brussels, competing directly between Cathay Pacific’s service between Hong Kong and Brussels with Airbus A350-900. Air Belgium will also be entering the Brussels to Chinese city market with its two Airbus A340-300. Hainan is currently the only airline to offer flights to Beijing non-stop from Brussels International airport.
Between the 2 July and 29 August, Hainan will operate an A330-300 daily to Brussels from Beijing. In 2017 the route was also served daily between May 17 and 29 September. The flight from Beijing is scheduled to depart at 1:20 am and the flight from Brussels will leave at 13:40, every day.
Low competition and high slot availability at Brussels Airport allow airlines to enjoy monopoly and relatively low-cost flights connecting Europe. There are currently two airlines which operate a hub at Brussels Airport, including flag carrier, Brussels Airlines and leisure carrier TUI Fly Belgium. Although Brussels Airlines operates flights to the most destinations, TUI is not far behind. In addition to this, TUI operates flights to almost every commercial airport in Belgium including to Liege, a cargo hub for TNT Airlines, whereas Brussels Airlines does not. Ryanair also takes advantage of the low airport fees to set up multiple destinations from Brussels using their Boeing 737 fleet. With the addition of Hainan Airlines’ service, better connections can be made to mold Belgium as a major hub for flights bound for African and Asian cities, where Belgium is currently taking a lead when compared to other European airports in terms of passenger capacity.
Hainan Airlines is continuing to grow and Brussels Airport has been a major contributor to its success. With 32 aircraft on order, there may be room for Hainan to expand its network to and from Brussels, although this is not confirmed. Hainan has revealed that it will continue to expand its network to and from the Belgian capital.
However, this rapid expansion doesn’t mean that Hainan Airlines is having a definite bright future. With the mother group of Hainan Airlines, HNA, famous for making high-profile purchases around the world, it has attracted equal attention for trying to liquidate its newly-acquired high-priced properties and companies while trying to keep its company profiles opaque and inscrutable.With debt accrued at USD 100 billion or more, HNA Group has come under pressure by Chinese authorities who are cracking down on the capital outflow. According to research firm Oriental Capital, HNA earns just enough profits to cover the interest on the money it has borrowed. This poses a great risk to other airlines operating under the HNA group including Hainan Airlines and Hong Kong Airlines.