China and Portugal Connected by Direct Flight from Beijing Capital Airlines

The Chinese airline Beijing Capital Airlines (BCA), from the Hainan Airlines group (HNA), is today hosting a presentation event for the new route between Beijing and Lisbon (direct flight), in partnership with ANA Aeroportos de Portugal (VINCI Airports) and Turismo de Portugal, I.P. (Portuguese tourism board), bringing together multiple entities and partners connected to aviation and tourism.

The new route, which begins on 26 July, will consist of a direct flight between Beijing and Lisbon. The flight, however, will originate in the city of Hangzhou, with a stopover in Beijing. At the same time, BCA will also inaugurate the Beijing – Macao route, thus increasing Lisbon Airport’s connection with China.

This connection, long desired by both countries, will start with three flights per week, on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays, until the end of the IATA summer, and will be flown using an A330-200, an aircraft with a seating capacity of 260. In the winter, there will be an additional flight on Sunday, increasing the frequency to four flights per week.

By the end of 2017, around 40,560 seats will have been made available. Over the next year, the operation is expected to maintain four flights per week, providing approximately 76,800 seats in 2018.

Beijing Capital Airlines has two major operational bases in Beijing and Hangzhou, with a network of 198 routes and carrying out 230 scheduled flights per day. It was established in 2010 and has now a fleet of 65 passenger aircraft, all from Airbus, namely A319 (24) and A320 (32). Last year it opened its first route to Europe: two flights per week with alternating departures from Beijing and Hangzhou to Copenhagen (Denmark). This year, it has already announced the launch of flights to Australia and to Canada, Helsinki (Finland) and Zagreb (Croatia).