China Eastern Airlines announced March 16 that it will launch thrice-weekly direct flights between Vancouver and Kunming, China, starting June 26.
The flights, which will leave Vancouver International Airport (YVR) and connect via Shanghai, are the first direct flights between Kunming and a North American city.
China Eastern's Vancouver sales manager, Frank Lin, told Business in Vancouver that the Yunnan provincial government wanted to launch flights between its largest city, Kunming, and North America. It approached China Eastern and both the airline and the government agreed that Vancouver had the "most potential" because of various metrics, including strong current sales, Lin said.
"Kunming and Vancouver are both tourism cities, more than business cities," he explained. "So, they decided that Vancouver is similar to Kunming."
The current fastest connection time in Shanghai when travelling between Vancouver and Kunming is about three hours. The new flight will cut that time in Shanghai in half, Lin added.
China Eastern Airlines started flying out of YVR in mid-2004 and it doubled its daily service between YVR and Shanghai in mid-2013.
The new direct service to YVR compliments the recent agreement between China and Canada to provide 10-year multiple-entry visas to Canadian and Chinese citizens for business, tourism or family purposes.
Starting March 8, Canadians became eligible to submit requests for a multiple-entry visa to Chinese consulates and authorities.
The visas cost $100 per person.
The new China Eastern flights to Kunming also signal an expansion of the Chinese government’s new policy to allow citizens of various countries, including Canada, to be able to enter the country visa-free for up to 72 hours, through its hub cities, as long as the traveller has a flight booked on an approved airline to leave the country within that time frame.
The initiative launched first on January 1, 2013, for those travelling through the Beijing Capital International Airport. It has since been expanded to include airports in Shanghai, Guangzhou, Chengdu, Chongqing, Shenyang, Dalian, Guilin and Xi’an and will include the Kunming Changshui International Airport as soon as the China Eastern flights launch.
“Having service to Kunming from YVR opens up exciting new tourism and business opportunities for Canadians and further establishes Vancouver as a gateway hub between Asia and the Americas,” said Vancouver Airport Authority CEO Craig Richmond in a statement.
More than 70 flights each week link YVR and mainland Chinese cities during the summer. Currently, 59 of those flights are in operation.
YVR is the only airport in North America with service from four mainland China carriers and was the first North American airport selected by Sichuan Airlines for its long-haul flight.
Traffic between YVR and the Asia-Pacific region reached almost three million passengers in 2014, up 9.8% compared with 2013. Traffic to mainland China increased less than that of the region as a whole: 6.66%
