Hainan Airline seeks permission for Boston-Beijing flightsv
The Massachusetts Port Authority said Hainan Airline Aviation Group has applied to the Chinese equivalent of the Federal Aviation Administration for permission to fly daily nonstops from Beijing to Boston using Boeing 787 aircraft.
The port authority said creating nonstop service between Boston and China was a key goal of Gov. Deval Patrick’s trade mission to China in December.
The application to the Civil Aviation Administration of China “is an important milestone in the marathon required to establish this desired route,' said Patrick in a speech Wednesday at MIT’s Sloan School of Management.
“We have been talking with the Chinese for three years to develop this route,' said Thomas J. Kinton Jr., chief executive officer of Massport. “Every major U.S. airport wants China service, but we have the market to support it. Logan had 38,000 passengers travel from Boston on tickets purchased with a final destination of Beijing, and another 30,000 headed to Shanghai.'
Massport said that with production delays in the long-range, fuel-efficient Boeing 787 Dreamliner pushing back aircraft delivery, it is unlikely the service would begin before 2010.