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Prague to have new direct regular connection with China, as of this September a direct flight route will begin operating from Prague to Beijing

At a press conference in China Hainan Airlines announced the start of the operation of a direct regular flight route between Prague and Beijing. This comes as the result of intensive talks held between the airline and representatives of Prague Airport company as of the end of last year. The first flight is to take place on 23 September 2015.

The airline plans 3 flights a week by Boeing 767 aircraft with a seating capacity for 223 passengers, thereof 31 in business and 192 in economyclass. The flight to Beijing will last 10 hours but the flight in the opposite direction will last an hour longer. The new direct route will also offer passengers the comfort of connecting flights to other Chinese cities. The direct route to Beijing is the 7^th long-distance route to be offered to passengers by the airline from Prague during the course of this year.

“I consider the launch of operation on the Prague – Beijing route a great success. It is predominantly thanks to Prague Airport and Hainan Airlines employees who negotiated all details of the operations in a very short time. The route was prepared in three quarters of the year. Commonly, long-haul route operations are discussed for years,” stated Vaclav Rehor, Chairman of the Czech Aeroholding Board of Directors, appointed by the Czech Republic’s premier to facilitate a new direct scheduled connection between Prague and China. “We expect that the service will be used by up to sixty thousand passengers a year in both directions, based on the seat-capacity load factor of the aircraft used,” Mr. Rehor added.

“A direct air connection between Prague and Beijing is a crucial milestone in our Chinese-clientele-oriented segment. China is one of the strategic resource markets for our inbound tourism,” said Karla Šlechtová, Minister of Regional Development of the Czech Republic.

“According to our analyses, apart from the increase in the number of Chinese tourists, the direct route from Beijing to Prague should also contribute to extending their average length of stay from the present 2.6 days to 3 days. The total economic benefit of the new route to tourism in the Czech Republic can be estimated at up to 350 million crowns p.a.,” informed CzechTourism’s General Director Monika Palatková.

“The lack of a direct flight connection between Prague and China has been felt here for a long time. The Chinese market holds huge potential for our city in terms of the incoming tourism. Local customers hear about the romantic atmosphere of the city and the Chinese are already greatly interested in Prague as a wedding destination. However the new route will also bring benefit in the form of business trips or congress tourism,” stated Nora Dolanská, director of Prague City Tourism.

The Chinese market offers an interesting potential in the field of tourism and a direct route from Beijing to Prague will have an impact on the development of tourism between both countries. The interest of Chinese tourists in Prague has grown over recent years. In the past five years the number of Chinese travelling to the Czech Republic has increased three fold. Last year 212,000 visited our country which is 22% more than the previous year. The trend continued in the first quarter of this year with a recorded year-to-year increase of 27%. 

Information about the flight schedule:

There will be 3 flights a week from Prague, always on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. The flight time is planned for 13:30, and due to the time delay the plane will land in Beijing the following day at 05:30 local time. A network of connecting flights for passengers will be available here to further Chinese destinations such as Shanghai or Hong Kong.  The return flight from Beijing will leave at 2:30 local time and arrived in Prague at 7:30 in the morning. Passengers from Beijing will also be able to transfer to connecting flights in Prague for a number of European destinations.

The price of a return air ticket will start at CZK 14,382 (depending on the current exchange rate). It can be purchased on the airlines website at www.hainanairlines.com and at selected air ticket sellers.