Photo by: Reuters
Becoming the first air link offered by a Chinese carrier between mainland China and South Africa, as well as Air China's first route to Africa, the Asian carrier has announced that it will launch a nonstop service between Beijing and Johannesburg from October 29.
The introduction of the direct 14-hour flight would eliminate the need for Chinese travellers to South Africa to make a transfer en route and would make Johannesburg the first destination Air China would begin to serve after many years of absence from the African market.
The airline said the new service, which would see outbound flights from Beijing on a Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday and inbound flights from Johannesburg on a Monday, Wednesday and Friday, would further solidify the political, economic and cultural exchanges between China and Africa.
The introduction of the Beijing–Johannesburg route by Air China would be shortly followed by the launch of a link between Beijing and Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
The airline outlined in a statement on Monday that it would, this year, continue to build its international presence by opening several more international routes.
In addition to the above two new routes to Africa, Air China also opened routes between Chengdu, China, and Colombo, Sri Lanka, in February; a route between Hangzhou, China and Osaka, Japan, in March; a service linking Tianjin, China, Dalian, China, and Sapporo, Japan, in April; as well as a route linking Beijing and Minsk, Belarus, with Budapest, Hungary, in May.
The carrier also launched a nonstop service between Beijing and Melbourne, Australia, in June and a route between Beijing and Hakodate, Japan, in July.
“These new services have made Air China one of the few carriers in the world that served all the six continents and the only Chinese carrier that does so,” it held.