We've seen an incredible amount of growth when it comes to aviation in China, and in particular we've seen huge expansion when it comes to longhaul international flights being operated by mainland Chinese carriers. This has included a lot of routes that…
I love writing about great premium fare deals, but this is certainly the weirdest one I've seen in a while. Back in the 1980s, well before I had even taken my first flight, some airlines like American sold lifetime first class travel passes for what…
HNA Group is a massive Chinese conglomerate that has stakes in all kinds of travel brands. This includes about a dozen Chinese airlines, as well as major international hotel brands, like Hilton and Carlson. While the company was investing like crazy,…
Hainan Airlines has just formally announced that they'll be launching nonstop flights between Beijing and Mexico as of March 21, 2018. The flight will operate 3x weekly from Beijing to Mexico City via Tijuana, with the following schedule, per @airlineroute:…
Hainan is generally regarded as the best airline in mainland China, and they're the only Skytrax 5-star airline in mainland China. I had a pleasant experience when I flew with them early last year, and found the food and service to be great, while the…
Hainan is China's Skytrax 5-star airline, and while I don't put too much weight into those rankings, I was very pleasantly surprised by my flights with them last year from Los Angeles to Changsha and back. While the airline is based in Beijing, due to…
The Chinese aviation industry is growing at a rapid pace, and we've seen so many new routes added lately. By 2024 China is expected to overtake the US as the world's largest passenger market, and by 2035 they expect to transport 1.3 billion passengers…
Outside air temperatures can have quite an impact on the takeoff performance of planes. Hot air is less dense, which means that planes may need more runway to take off, and may need to restrict the number of passengers and cargo they can carry. While…
When it comes to aviation in China, all airlines are most definitely not created equal. I've flown longhaul business or first class on Air China, China Eastern, China Southern, Hainan, and Xiamen, and had very different experiences across all the airlines.…
These routes have been rumored for quite a while, and now they're finally confirmed. Hainan Airlines will be launching twice weekly flights from Los Angeles to both Chengdu and Chongqing starting in just a few weeks. As of March 15, 2017, Hainan will…
Last January Hainan Airlines began twice weekly flights between Los Angeles and Changsha, which is an interesting new route. They had some incredible ~$1,350 roundtrip business class introductory fares when the route first launched, which represented…
As I've explained before, China’s aviation policies are a bit odd. The country has a rule where only one Chinese airline can operate any individual longhaul route. Given the pace at which Chinese airlines are growing, this is causing many of them to…
China's aviation policies are bizarre to me. The country has a rule where only one Chinese airline can operate any individual longhaul route. Given the pace at which Chinese airlines are growing, this is causing many of them to scramble in order to launch…
This January Hainan Airlines began 2x weekly flights between Los Angeles and Changsha, which is an interesting new route. They had some incredible ~$1,350 roundtrip business class introductory fares when the route first launched, which represented an…
Hainan Airlines is generally regarded as the best mainland Chinese airline (I agree, based on my experiences), and they've been expanding very nicely in North America. Earlier in the year Hainan launched flights between Los Angeles and Changsha, which…
For obvious reasons I've always been intrigued by Lucky Air, even though I've never had the chance to fly them. Lucky Air is based in Kunming, China, and as of now just operates flights regionally. They're essentially the low cost subsidiary of Hainan…
Despite their snazzy new business class product, Virgin Australia isn't an airline which has been performing especially well the past several years. They finally turned a modest profit last year, which represents quite a change of course from previous…
Last July, Alaska Airlines and Hainan Airlines announced a new partnership, allowing Mileage Plan members to accrue miles for travel on Hainan. This was a pretty cool new partnership, given that Hainan is generally well regarded among Chinese carriers,…
Last July, Alaska Airlines and Hainan Airlines announced a new partnership, allowing Mileage Plan members to accrue miles for travel on Hainan. This was a pretty cool new partnership, given that Hainan is generally well regarded among Chinese carriers,…
As regular readers will know, I recently completed a trip between Los Angeles and Changsha in Hainan Airlines business class. This was thanks to some fantastic ~$1,350 roundtrip introductory fares they had in the market. My primary motivation for taking…
After a fantastic flight on the outbound, I was excited to see if the service level I experienced was an exception or the norm. Well, this flight sure was "different." I boarded through the very forward door, and upon presenting my boarding pass was…
