The Massachusetts Port Authority reports that the currently named Hainan Airline Aviation Group has formally applied to the Civil Aviation Administration of China for permission to fly daily nonstops from Beijing to Boston using Boeing 787 aircraft.

The airline will, according to the Boston Business Journal be rebranded as Grand China Air which is a better name than Hainan Air given that most Americans do not have the foggiest notion where Hainan is geographically. The service will be non-stop 13-hour, 20-minute flights.

According to a a release from the local government, creating a nonstop service from Boston to China was a key goal of Governor Deval Patrick’s trade mission to China in December.

The CAAC said it would receive public comments on the application until April 10.

Massport CEO Thomas J. Kinton Jr., in a statement said, ‘We have been talking with the Chinese for three years to develop this route.

‘Every major US airport wants a China service, but we have the market to support it. Logan had 38,000 passengers travel from Boston on tickets purchased with a final destination of Beijing, and another 30,000 headed to Shanghai.’

With production delays in the long-range, fuel-efficient Boeing 787 Dreamliner pushing back aircraft delivery, it is unlikely the service on Hainan’s Grand China Airlines will begin before 2010.

Source: Boston Business Journal