Air China flies to New York direct
1 September 2002
Air China is to launch non-stop flights between Beijing and New York. Flying over the Arctic, the flights will take about 13 hours compared with the 20 hours' flying time with United Airlines, which operates via Tokyo. The Chinese airline plans departures from Beijing on Mondays,Wednesdays and Fridays, with return flights departing from New York on the following day. Services will start on September 27.
The flagship carrier said it made a Yn2.7m profit in the first half of 2002, compared with a loss of Yn631m in the same period last year. Passenger traffic volumes grew 17 per cent year-on-year to 4.72m passengers, with particularly strong growth on services to the US,Australia, the UK, France and Germany.