Hainan’s Two New LAX Routes Are Now Bookable

Hainan’s Two New LAX Routes Are Now Bookable

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These routes have been rumored for quite a while, and now they’re finally confirmed. Hainan Airlines will be launching twice weekly flights from Los Angeles to both Chengdu and Chongqing starting in just a few weeks.

LAX-Hainan

As of March 15, 2017, Hainan will be starting twice weekly flights between Chengdu and Los Angeles with the following schedule:

HU469 Chengdu to Los Angeles departing 9:15PM arriving 8:00PM
HU470 Los Angeles to Chengdu departing 12:45AM arriving 6:40AM (+1 day)

Meanwhile as of March 21, 2017, Hainan will be starting twice weekly flights between Chongqing and Los Angeles with the following schedule:

HU467 Chongqing to Los Angeles departing 9:25PM arriving 8:00PM
HU468 Los Angeles to Chongqing departing 12:45AM arriving 6:30AM (+1 day)

These routes complement Hainan’s existing route out of Los Angeles, to Changsha (which I reviewed early last year).

Per @airlineroute, both flights will be operated by Boeing 787-8 aircraft, featuring 36 business class seats and 177 economy class seats.

Hainan-Airlines-Business-Class-787 - 1

These new routes have been rumored for a while, as Hainan petitioned with the U.S. Department of Transportation for these routes a few weeks back.

The motivation behind these routes is pretty obvious. China has a policy where only one Chinese airline can operate each longhaul route (unless a special exception is made), so Chinese airlines have an incentive to try and beat one another to the punch on new routes.

In the case of Chengdu, Hainan is clearly trying to beat Chengdu-based Sichuan Airlines to the punch. Sichuan started flying to LAX last year, though as of now they don’t have a plane that can fly between Chengdu and Los Angeles nonstop, so they fly via Hangzhou and Jinan. So Hainan started this route so that Sichuan wouldn’t be able to.

There are two reasons I’m especially excited about this expansion:

Hainan-Airlines-Business-Class-787 - 79

While Hainan historically has excellent business class fares, it doesn’t look like they’ve published any great fares on these new routes just yet. I suspect that will change over time, though as of now business class tickets are running $2,500+ roundtrip for most routings. In the past we’ve seen sub-$1,500 business class fares between Los Angeles and Changsha. I wouldn’t be surprised if we eventually see fares like that — if we do, I’ll be sure to post again.

Bottom line

It’s amazing how many Chinese cities are accessible nonstop out of Los Angeles now. The number of nonstop destinations has more than doubled in the past couple of years, and it looks like there’s no end in sight for this growth. I view this as another opportunity to potentially pick up a great business class fare that I can credit to Alaska, or at a minimum, two routes with wide open business class award availability through Alaska.

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  1. E Guest

    Any update on the CTU flight numbers? The site still doesn't show it (it does show CSX, but that's already been confirmed posting EQM)

  2. 朱益韩 Guest

    Just like @HKG, I am curious as well. The two new flights as well as the previous LAX-Changsha one does not fall into the Alaska eligible number range (481-499). Did you get the miles on your Changsha trip or not?

  3. Kobe Bryant Guest

    Correct you for the xx time:
    It's not "China has a policy where only one Chinese airline can operate each longhaul route (unless a special exception is made)", but "China has a policy where only one Chinese airline can operate each US-SINO longhaul route (unless a special exception is made)."
    I don't think you will stop making such mistakes any time soon, though....

  4. HKG Guest

    @Lucky, upon checking the accrual chart for Hainan Airlines on alaskaair.com, I found that only flight numbers ranging 0481–0499, 7000–7399, 7600–7999 can accrue miles. So am I correct in that those new flights would not credit towards Alaska?

  5. idahost Guest

    Just remember 200.00 plus taxes each way on Hainan Business Class Alaska redemptions...ripoff

  6. Tyler Weatherup New Member

    Any idea when Alaska will have these flights loaded in their system? I can't seem to find anything.

    Good timing for us as my partner is heading to CKG in April for a community field experience. Reward space is decent at the moment, but with undesirable connections.

    I will wait to see if there are some promo prices before I book anything as it's hard to justify 100,000 miles plus taxes on a (potentially) sub-$1,500 flight

  7. Hugh B Member

    I know that 2 airlines can't operate the same route but, can 2 airlines operate to different airports in the same city i.e. Air China on PEK-LHR and Hainan on PEK-LGW?

  8. Kathy Guest

    It's amazing that Chinese companies are coming up with with new ideas.

  9. Question Guest

    Is also possible to get Aadvantage miles with Hainan?

  10. db Guest

    @Lucky what's your thought on Hainan Airlines acquired Deutsche Bank?
    https://www.ft.com/content/fc06774e-f51d-11e6-8758-6876151821a6

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E Guest

Any update on the CTU flight numbers? The site still doesn't show it (it does show CSX, but that's already been confirmed posting EQM)

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朱益韩 Guest

Just like @HKG, I am curious as well. The two new flights as well as the previous LAX-Changsha one does not fall into the Alaska eligible number range (481-499). Did you get the miles on your Changsha trip or not?

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Kobe Bryant Guest

Correct you for the xx time: It's not "China has a policy where only one Chinese airline can operate each longhaul route (unless a special exception is made)", but "China has a policy where only one Chinese airline can operate each US-SINO longhaul route (unless a special exception is made)." I don't think you will stop making such mistakes any time soon, though....

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