Air China is adding a third nonstop flight between Los Angeles and Beijing, the airline announced today.
The flights will start May 2, four days a week at first, then become daily starting July 1. The Boeing 777-300ER to be used on the route has eight luxury suites in the “Forbidden Pavilion” first-class cabin, 41 business- class sleeper seats and 259 economy seats equipped with television monitors.
Tourism from China has “quadrupled” over the past four years, and the service “puts us well on our way of meeting our goal of 50 million visitors a year by 2020 and creating more good jobs in the city of Los Angeles,” said Mayor Eric Garcetti.
He joined other city leaders at Los Angeles International Airport to herald the Air China announcement, which was made on Lunar New Year’s Day.
Los Angeles is one of the top destinations for the 100 million Chinese expected to travel internationally in 2015, according to the United Nations World Tourism Organization.
Each new international daily flight on wide-body planes that is added at LAX is projected to put $623 million per year into the region’s economy and create 3,120 local jobs, according to estimates by the Los Angeles Economic Development Corporation.
Zhihang Chi, Air China’s vice president for North America, said the service will increase the “connectivity” between China and the United States, “and strengthen the bilateral trade, tourism and cultural ties between the world’s two largest economies.”
Air China also operates out of airports in San Francisco, New York, Washington, D.C., Houston, Honolulu and Vancouver. It is China’s national carrier, transporting senior government officials in addition to operating its commercial flights.
