The Chinese airline Hainan Airlines, which continued to operate the direct flight between Tel Aviv and Shenzhen throughout the entire war, announced today (Tuesday) that it will resume the direct flight to Beijing starting on April 10, which was suspended with the outbreak of the war.
Hainan Airlines, which before the war operated six weekly flights on three direct routes between Israel and China, is the only long-haul airline that continued its uninterrupted operations at Ben Gurion Airport despite the war. Now, the airline is adding two weekly direct flights to the Chinese capital Beijing on Mondays and Thursdays to the three weekly direct flights to Shenzhen in southern China.
All of the airline’s flights between China and Israel take the safe northern route and are operated on new Boeing Dreamliner aircraft. El Al is not currently operating flights to China and has not returned to fly to the country since the coronavirus. However, the airline’s website lists flights to the destination with a connecting flight.
How much will it cost?
Hainan Airlines is the fourth-largest airline in China and began operations in Israel in 2016. During the coronavirus period, the company suspended its operations in Israel for about three years.
The flights to Beijing will depart from Ben Gurion Airport on Mondays and Thursdays at 3:00 PM and will land in Beijing at 4:45 AM the following day. Flights from Beijing will depart on Mondays and Thursdays at 2:00 AM local time and will land on the same day at 7:40 AM at Ben Gurion Airport.
Flights to Beijing will be available for sale through distribution systems in the next 48 hours. In a check we conducted, we found that a round-trip ticket in economy class will cost $1,624 per person, while in business class, it will cost $5,270 per person.
"We are very proud of the work we have done, not stopping flights to Israel even during the hardest days of the war," said Hainan Airlines Israel CEO Miller Chen. "The return of the direct flight to Beijing is a very significant vote of confidence from the company headquarters in the Israeli market and in the situation in Israel. The demand for China and the East is constantly rising and strengthening the bridge we are creating between China and Israel. We will continue to provide Israeli travelers with the best and most stable conditions for flying to China and the East even in times of uncertainty in Israel."