Air China to start 4 weekly Beijing-Mumbai nonstop flights from October 25
NATIONAL flag carrier Air China will commence Beijing-Mumbai service on October 25 as the only mainland China flights to India''''''''s biggest city of 12.4 million.
Departing from Beijing for Mumbai without stopovers in Hong Kong, Singapore and Bangkok, the new Air China service will take seven hours.
As two BRICS countries, China and India have long had close political, economic and people exchanges and in recent years, inbound and outbound travellers of the two countries have been on the rise.
Air China is continuing to build its global route network with its Beijing hub and at the same time, with the "One Belt, One Road" initiative proposed by the Chinese government.
This is start more routes serving the countries along the "One Belt, One Road" to Minsk and Budapest which opened in the first half of the year and Islamabad, Karachi, Kuala Lumpur, Colombo, Johannesburg and Addis Ababa coming soon.
"In this new era when China and the countries along the ''''''''One Belt, One Road'''''''' are jointly mapping out the future for the six major economic corridors, Air China''''''''s Beijing-Mumbai service is an important part of the endeavour, said the company statement.
"The service will increase the Asian-Pacific destinations Air China serves to 17, and bring the number of nonstop flights between China and India up to eight a week," it said.
"It will make it much easier for both Chinese business and leisure travellers departing from Beijing for India to get to Delhi and Mumbai, cities whose developed transport systems provide easy access to other Indian cities and destinations.
The Beijing-Mumbai flights are on Tuesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays and Sundays. The outbound flight departs from Beijing at 1940 Beijing time and arrives in Mumbai at 0100 local time the following day. Return flights depart from Mumbai at 0230 local time and arrive in Beijing at 1120 Beijing time.
The Beijing-Delhi flights are operated Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays. The outbound flight departs from Beijing at 2040 Beijing time and arrives in Delhi at 0135 local time the following day. The return flight departs from 0250 local time and arrives in Beijing at 1125 Beijing time.