The direct passenger flights between China and the UK will be restarted after 2 years after an agreement made by both governments.
The CAAC (Civil Aviation Administration of China) and the UK Department for Transport have agreed to resume direct passenger flights between the 2 countries, according to a report from the British embassy in China issued on Wednesday.
China and UK
Initially, the direct flights will be provided by Chinese airlines, while the resumption of flights conducted by British Airways is still ongoing, according to the information on the embassy’s official social media account.
According to the information gathered by reporters from airlines, 4 Chinese airlines have indicated their plans for resumption of flights between the UK and China.
Air China announced
Air China will be the 1st Chinese domestic airline to restart this route. On August 8th, Air China declared that it would restart scheduled operations between Beijing Capital International Airport (PEK) and London Heathrow Airport (LHR) from August 11th, and operation between Shanghai Pudong International Airport (PVG) and LHR from August 13th. Both routes are on a weekly basis and will be flown by the Airbus A330.
Air China set the base cost for the economy, premium economy, and business class at 12,270 RMB (1,822 US dollars), 18,440 RMB (2,738 US dollars), and 42,720 RMB (6,278 US dollars) respectively, which are much expensive than the fare before the pandemic, but significantly reduced from any current transit flight.
China Eastern Airlines, one day after Air China’s announcement, told it would restart operation between Shanghai Pudong Airport and London Heathrow Airport, although the flights currently are only scheduled on August 12th and 19th in China Eastern’s announcement.
China Southern Airlines published a piece of information about ticket booking between Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport (CAN) and London Heathrow Airport early last February. There has been no news since then, until today, when China Southern officially declared the mentioned routes would be restarted from August 17th.
Below is the first batch of direct routes restarted between China and the UK:
| August 11th | Air China | CA937 | PEK-LHR |
| August 12th | China Eastern | MU551 | PVG-LHR |
| August 13th | Air China | CA849 | PVG-LHR |
| August 17th | China Southern | CZ303 | CAN-LHR |
| August 19th | Capital Airlines (Subsidiary of Hainan Airlines) | JD431 | TAO-LHR |
It is worth noting that all flights are selling one-way tickets from China to the UK at the moment, and no tickets are sold for the return flights back to China, presumably due to China’s strict COVID prevention policy.
20 months suspension of direct flights
Many countries, including China, suspended flights to and from the UK after 2 new coronavirus strains were discovered in the UK in December 2020. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin approved the suspension at the regular press conference on December 24th, 2020.
It is worth noting that all flights are selling one-way tickets from China to the UK at the moment, and no tickets are sold for the return flights back to China, presumably due to China’s strict COVID prevention policy.
Since then, no direct flights between the 2 major economies have been scheduled during the last 20 months. Passengers have mainly relied on connecting flights.
For example, a flight from Guangzhou Baiyun Airport to London Heathrow Airport needs a transit in Paris, and the journey takes up to 27 hours. Since the resumption of direct flights on August 11th, the flights will take just over 11 hours.
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