Yesterday I wrote about how Shenzhen Airlines is launching flights to London Heathrow. In that article I mentioned how it was likely that more airlines would launch flights to Europe. This expansion is fueled by the economic boom in China. As more airlines add capacity to flights to the whole world, more destinations will be added. The next addition to this expansion in Xiamen Airlines. Xiamen Airlines adds Paris flights to their network beginning this winter.
Xiamen Airlines Adds Paris as a Destination
The airline has been aggressively expanding throughout the world as the airline receives more of their 787s. The airline now has a total of six 787s in their fleet. They fly to six intercontinental destinations, such as Vancouver, Los Angeles and Amsterdam. The airline seems to have all their aircraft booked on existing flights, I am left to wonder how they will be able to find planes to keep expanding. As the airline adds Paris service, there will certainly be reductions on some of the other intercontinental routes.
What to Expect
The airline will fly three times a week from Fuzhou to Paris. The flight will be operated by, surprise surprise, their 787s. This flight will be specifically flown by their 787-8. The aircraft are configured with three cabins, First, Business and Economy. There are 4 first class seats in a 1x2x1 configuration, 18 business class seats in a 2x2x2 configuration and 215 economy seats, in a 3x3x3 configuration.
Xiamen’s Paris flight will have the following schedule:
MF825 FOC0030 – 0655CDG 788 247
MF826 CDG1330 – 0730+1FOC 788 247
The airline offers a unique First Class product, as I believe it is one of two first class cabins found on a 787-8 (the other being China Southern).
Landing Thoughts:
I feel like we hear new flights from Chinese airlines at least once a week. The boom in the world’s most populous country has led to capacity dumping in some routes, making them unprofitable for some carriers (think American’s Chicago-Beijing flight). This flight will not be competing directly with any other carrier. The flight will likely be codeshared with their Skyteam partner Air France, which will funnel more passengers to the airline’s new flight. I am interested to see how new routes develop between the Chinese carriers, and how will other carriers react.
What do you think? Have you flown Xiamen Airlines’ 787? How was your experience? Would you fly them to Paris? Let us know!
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