London [UK], April 8: China's Hainan Airlines on Friday resumed its direct flight services between London and Changsha, capital of central China's Hunan Province, after a three-year hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Six hours before departure time, people were already lining up at Heathrow Airport to check in for the flight.
Passenger Yan Xiaoping, who previously had to do layover stops to get to Hunan, said the resumed route was "extremely convenient for us Chinese in the UK to get back home."
The first flight was scheduled to take off from Heathrow Airport at 10:00 p.m. local time on Friday, and land in Changsha in about 11 hours.
Operated by brand-new Boeing 787 Dreamliner aircraft, the service will provide three flights per week: on Monday, Wednesday and Friday.
This is the second direct flight route by Hainan Airlines that links the Chinese mainland and the UK, following the resumption of its direct flight between Beijing and Manchester in August 2022.
"This will improve communication and the relationship between China and the UK, especially in terms of politics, economy and education," said Wu Lili, president of the UK Hunan Association.
Hainan Airlines launched its route between Changsha and London in 2018, and has since transported over 70,000 passengers on more than 500 flights. However, the route was suspended after the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.
Since August 2022, some direct passenger flights linking China and the UK have resumed, as China lifted more travel restrictions after it optimized its COVID-19 response.
Source: Xinhua