On July 4, 2013, Haikou-based Hainan Airlines Co Ltd received its first Boeing 787 Dreamliner aircraft on North Charleston, where the second assembly line of the aircraft is located. Hainan Airlines is considered to be the fourth largest carrier in China. With this new addition, the company has become the second Chinese airline that flies the Boeing 787 and has ordered 10 Dreamliners.
The airline said that the aircraft will first be operated on the domestic route from Beijing to Haikou. Hainan Airlines released a press statement, which said that the company will be deploying Dreamliners on its North American routes in order to increase the frequency of its services from Beijing to Seattle, Toronto and Chicago, along with some new destinations.
Mu Weigan, vice-chairman of Hainan Airlines said, “The 787 will allow Hainan Airlines to open new routes from Beijing to North America and provide our unique ‘Eastern-style’ five-star in-flight experience for global passengers”. On the other hand, China Southern Airlines Co Ltd received the first Dreamliner on June 2, 2013, which made it the first carrier in China with this model.
Hainan Airlines is the largest privately-owned company and the fourth largest airline in terms of its fleet size in China.
