Hainan Airlines to launch first direct service from Beijing to Dublin and Edinburgh in Jun-2018

Hainan Airlines announced (15-Mar-2018) plans to launch twice weekly Beijing-Dublin-Edinburgh-Beijing and twice weekly Beijing-Edinburgh-Dublin-Beijing services with A330 aircraft on 12-Jun-2018. Hainan Airlines signed cooperation agreements with Dublin Airport, Edinburgh Airport, Tourism Ireland and VisitScotland. Ireland's Deputy Prime Minister Simon Coveney said: "I'm pleased to see that Hainan Airlines will launch the first non-stop service between Beijing and Dublin, providing the convenience of a direct route between the two countries for tourists, students studying abroad and business travellers going to China and Ireland". Edinburgh Airport CEO Gordon Dewar, who said the new route is a culmination of many years of work, added: "Edinburgh is second only to London as the most popular UK destination for Chinese tourists, and we have worked incredibly hard with partners across the city and country to get to this point". Chinese travellers can visit the UK and Ireland on a single visa from either country. Around 120,000 passengers travelled between Ireland and mainland China in 2017, with journeys to and from Beijing accounting for more than a quarter of those trips. Ireland is the largest travel market in Europe for Chinese traffic that does not currently have a nonstop service. Tourism Ireland estimates around 70,000 Chinese visitors came to Ireland in 2017, up from 60,000 in 2016. [more - original PR - Hainan Airlines] [more - original PR - Dublin Airport] [more - original PR - Edinburgh Airport]