China Southern Airlines celebrates the starting of its Sanya-London direct flight at Heathrow Airport on Thursday. [Photo provided to China Daily]

New Chinese Southern route opens up Hainan to world

China Southern Airlines has started a non-stop service between London and Sanya, a popular tourist destination of Hainan province. The first flight arrived into London Heathrow Airport on Thursday evening.

This twice-weekly service started at an opportune time, three months after the Chinese government announced its intention to establish a free trade zone in Hainan by 2020, where multinationals are encouraged to set up their regional headquarters.

Luo Laijun, director general of the commercial steering committee of China Southern, said he hopes the new flight will help Hainan further open up its economy to foreign investors.

"Our new flight has strategic significance for Hainan's goal to integrate into the global economy, and we hope more international visitors will discover the beauty and charm of Hainan for themselves," Luo said.

"We also hope our flight will facilitate the increasing exchanges of people, information and trade between China and the UK," he said.

Hainan is China's southern-most province, known for its warm climate, fresh ocean breezes, sunshine and beaches.

The new route is China Southern's third direct flight between London and China. The carrier started flying a non-stop route between London and Guangzhou in 2012 and between London and Wuhan in May this year.

The new service also rides on a wave of increasing direct flights between China and the UK. Earlier this year Air China launched a direct flight between London and Chengdu, while Hainan Airlines launched a direct flight between Edinburgh and Beijing.

"We greatly welcome new direct flights to China, they make a significant contribution to our airport and to the British economy," said Chris Garton, chief operating officer at Heathrow Airport.

Zhu Qin, minister and deputy head of mission of the Chinese embassy in the UK, added that the new flight is significant not just for Hainan and for China Southern, but also for the accelerating development of the "golden era" of relations between China and the UK.

This "golden era" was launched in 2015 during a state visit to the UK. Since then, bilateral trade, investment, and people-to-people exchanges have boomed.

Trade between the two countries rose in 2017 to $79 billion, an increase of almost 6.2 percent on the previous year, and British exports to China went up 19.4 percent, according to Chinese government figures.

Direct flights generate a huge economic benefit. A report by the consultancy Frontier Economics published in March estimated the more than 100 weekly flights currently operating between London and China add 510 million pounds ($670 million) to UK GDP and support 15,000 jobs.

In December last year, the UK and China agreed to raise the limit on the number of direct weekly flights between the two nations from 100 to 150.

China Southern is one of China's biggest airlines by fleet size. Its flights also connect China with other European cities including Rome, Amsterdam, Paris and Frankfurt.

As a vote of confidence for its continued investment in and commitment to the UK market, last December China Southern established a code-sharing partnership with British Airways.

This means British Airways passengers can connect to China Southern's large network of short-haul destinations in China once arriving into its hub airport in Guangzhou. Similarly, Chinese passengers can visit many European destinations by transiting at British Airways' hub airport in London.

"This partnership comes naturally given our two airlines' respective strengths in the China and UK markets," said Luo.