Beijing Capital Airlines

[Ray Finkle]

Have applied for weekly flights to Beijing and Hangzhou starting April :good:

 

[Daza]

Hopefully it will come to fruition fantastic news 2016 is going to be a milestone year for Birmingham
Daza

 

[Ray Finkle]

Looks as though it will be an A330. Interestingly they are part of the same group as Hainan.

 

[Ray Finkle]

Mr K's Twitter says Beijing 2x weekly so it could be both destinations on one flight.

 

[nwoody2001]

Yes, there seems to be a little confusion between what PK is saying and what the application is asking for but eitherway, amazing news if pulled off! I would have had no idea that 2016 could see the start of scheduled flights between BHX and China, especially potentially 2 routes!!!

Amazing news....

 

[Jon Dempsey]

Well I can't see Hainan lodging an objection to the application although China Southern are based at Canton.

 

[nwoody2001]

Beijing Capital Airlines seeks rights to serve Birmingham

The airline, part of the HNA Group, has requested rights to introduce weekly services from Beijing and the first direct link to the UK from the Hangzhou, the capital and largest city of Zhejiang Province in Eastern China.

Beijing Capital Airlines is seeking to further grow its long-haul network with flights to the UK city of Birmingham in 2016, according to information released by aviation regulator, Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC). The airline, part of the HNA Group, has requested rights to introduce weekly services from Beijing and the first direct link to the UK from the Hangzhou, the capital and largest city of Zhejiang Province in Eastern China.

The airline entered the long-haul market in September this year having introduced a first Airbus A330 into its fleet. The aircraft, a former Garuda Indonesia A330-200, has been used on weekly flights from Beijing and Hangzhou to the Danish capital, Copenhagen in partnership with Chinese tour operator and fellow HNA Group company, Caissa during September and October.

Its debut in the UK will see it replicate this Copenhagen operation at Birmingham with weekly flights from both Beijing and Hangzhou from April 2016. The Beijing route has been served in the past two summer schedules by China Southern Airlines and Hainan Airlines, but Hangzhou will be a new market not just for Birmingham, but the UK. In fact alongside the airline’s flight to Copenhagen, KLM is the only other carrier to link the city to Europe, via its Amsterdam Schiphol hub.

Although Beijing Capital Airlines has made an official application to the CAAC to serve Birmingham, it is understood to have only held informal discussions with the airport’s management and no agreement has yet been reached should it get the green light from Chinese authorities to serve the market. CAAC is seeking formal replies to the request before ruling on the application after November 10, 2015.

In an interview with the Chinese media following the arrival of the A330 in China in July this year, Xu Xin, chief executive officer, Beijing Capital Airlines said that over the next five years the carrier intends to purchase at least 30 widebody aircraft to open more international routes between Chinese cities and major overseas tourist destinations.

"My company focuses on tourism market so we must open more overseas routes, which requires us to maintain a fleet of large jetliners," he said.

Alongside the flights to Copenhagen, Beijing Capital Airlines has also applied to the CAAC to serve the Finnish capital Helsinki from Beijing, again through a partnership with Caissa. . It is also seeking permission to begin flights between Hangzhou and Madrid from December 2015 and Qingdao and Melbourne in July 2016.

Although these flights will initially operate as charter packages it is understood to be Beijing Capital Airlines goal to develop them into scheduled operations in the future. It is now the seventh mainland Chinese carrier to introduce long-haul flights after Air China, China Eastern, China Southern, Hainan Airlines, Sichuan Airlines and Xiamen Airlines.


http://www.routesonline.com/news/29/bre ... irmingham/

 

[Ray Finkle]

After some doubt about whether the charter programme will continue it's good to see that Beijing will be back on the arrivals screen once again. Hangzhou will also be an interesting one to watch, especially if it does turn out to be a single destination rather than a Beijing add on. The airline seem to be obtaining plenty more A330's in the future so hopefully as their fleet grows then so will the frequencies. It's also good to see that the relationship with Caissa is still ongoing, this could potentially be vital in the coming years.

Finally it appears as if there is a long term strategy in place. It may take a few years but if the charter programme steadily grows until such time as politics allow it to become scheduled then I think we'll all be very happy. :smile:

Ash posted the application on another thread and it contained this, If you have any comments, please November 10, 2015 will be written feedback to the Civil Aviation Secretary. I hope there isn't a letter from a Mr G Osbourne on it's way to China

 

[Brum X]

After some doubt about whether the charter programme will continue it's good to see that Beijing will be back on the arrivals screen once again. Hangzhou will also be an interesting one to watch, especially if it does turn out to be a single destination rather than a Beijing add on. The airline seem to be obtaining plenty more A330's in the future so hopefully as their fleet grows then so will the frequencies. It's also good to see that the relationship with Caissa is still ongoing, this could potentially be vital in the coming years.

Finally it appears as if there is a long term strategy in place. It may take a few years but if the charter programme steadily grows until such time as politics allow it to become scheduled then I think we'll all be very happy. :smile:

Ash posted the application on another thread and it contained this, If you have any comments, please November 10, 2015 will be written feedback to the Civil Aviation Secretary. I hope there isn't a letter from a Mr G Osbourne on it's way to China

And without bringing up "old news" it also begs the question "Chinese airlines obviously are interested in BHX" but cant because of our "Chinese air agreements" that state no more scheduled flights are allowed. :crazy: :crazy: :crazy: :crazy: :crazy:

 

[Kevin Farnell]

Great news, particularly if both destinations become available.
With regard to the application process, I assume that the previous two seasons of charters would have had to go through the same procedure. If this is the case, it would appear to be almost a formality. If it is going through the same process as the previous two seasons, then is it being made public at an earlier stage - perhaps to re-assure potential customers that the service will still run next summer in view of the new route from MAN.

Just my thoughts.

Kevin

 

[User001]

Ash posted the application on another thread and it contained this, If you have any comments, please November 10, 2015 will be written feedback to the Civil Aviation Secretary. I hope there isn't a letter from a Mr G Osbourne on it's way to China

It's only been just over a week since the Hainan announcement and already that 'joke' is wearing very thin.

Mr Osbourne was not the reason Hainan chose Manchester. Even Mr Kehoe himself has acknowledged that Hainan were already set on Manchester, and that the '£12m pay off' was purely visit Britain tourist campaigns for the entire Norrthern region, to which Birmingham has also been in receipt of similar funds and currently in receipt of one right now for Turkish.

So, can we stop this childish nonsense that BHX has somehow been 'done over' by Osbourne and MAN. Sour grapes surely isn't anybody's taste?

 

[Jon Dempsey]

I think the comment pertains to the fact that the Chinese premier was dissuaded from visiting Birmingham and not comments from Paul Kehoe.

 

[User001]

It's still a crap joke.

The Chinese leader (albeit a different one) visited Birmingham on the last state visit to the UK, why shouldn't he visit other areas? Birmingham doesn't have the exclusive rights to visits?

And while Mr O may have been the key decider on which places Xi visited, I wonder if its occurred to anyone in Birmingham that Xi also may have wanted to see where his countries money is going in Manchester?

Like I say, Birmingham isn't the only place that sees links with the Chinese?

 

[nwoody2001]

Yes can we move on please and not get off the topic of this thread.

 

[Jon Dempsey]

Indeed Woody, good to see moves to develop routes not only to Beijing, but also to Canton.

The city missing from the list is Shanghai.

 

[Ray Finkle]

I don't know if this is still their livery but it will be a great one for the photographers if it is :good:

Credit to the photographer and original website http://www.wcarn.com/news/45/45733.html

 

[Brummiegem]

http://www.birminghampost.co.uk/busines ... a-10381127

Is someone trying to wind people up or what???
This story was from the Birmingham Post 2 days ago.It has appeared in todays Birmingham Mail.
I'll leave it to others to comment.

 

[andyc941]

Yes i read the article a few days ago on another forum ,and there were pages of response to it on the Manchester thread.But from now on im keeping my opinions to myself because i seem to get into trouble over it :smile:

 

[Brum X]

Yes i read the article a few days ago on another forum ,and there were pages of response to it on the Manchester thread.But from now on im keeping my opinions to myself because i seem to get into trouble over it :smile:

Yeah I know what you mean, it stirs up all kinds of emotions from people.

Having said that, the Birmingham Post/Mail are bloody stupid and as bad as the BBC. They are incapable of getting simple facts right which gets on my nerves.

 

[Brummiegem]

Why let the facts get in the way of a good story ,I think is the saying.
The Birmingham post used to be a well respected publication,especially for it's local business coverage.
Alas,since it and it's sister paper the Birmingham Mail were bought out by the Mirror group,now known as Trinity newspapers or something like that,the papers have gone downhill in a big way.
It's sad really as I used to really like reading the local papers more so than the Nationals.
Good job we have this forum though to keep us up to date with what is s really going on!!