Sichuan Airlines opens New Zealand flight route

 

Sichuan Airlines has taken delivery of its maiden A320neo with B-8949 (msn 7540) having been positioned to Tianjin via Astana earlier this week.  Powered by Pratt & Whitney PW1127Gs, Sichuan Airlines is expecting a total of twenty-four of the type delivered direct from Airbus (AIB, Toulouse Blagnac). Sichuan Airlines operates twenty A319-100s, fifty-five A320-200s, and thirty-eight A321-200s.

 

 

Sichuan Airlines opens New Zealand flight route

 

Sichuan Airlines will operate 3 direct flights Weekly between Auckland and Chengdu.

New Zealand's largest city Auckland is set to welcome Sichuan Airlines' inaugural flight from Chengdu, capital of southwest China's Sichuan Province on Tuesday.

"New Zealand is in a strong position to attract airlines, with a liberal international air transport policy that allows most major airlines to operate services to New Zealand without restriction," Bridges said in a release.

"We have negotiated 60 new or amended air services agreements since 2012," Bridges said, adding " In that time period, the number of services Chinese airlines can offer each week under arrangements between our countries has risen from 7 to 59."

"New Zealand is an increasingly popular tourist destination for Chinese visitors," he said.

In the year ended March 2017, 404,384 Chinese visitors came to New Zealand -- an increase of 7 percent on the year before, and visitors from China spent 1.45 billion NZ dollars (1.05 billion U.S. dollars), second only to the spending by visitors from Australia, according to the minister. New Zealand is further expanding its international connectivity, allowing people to get to and from Chinese provinces with greater ease, he said, adding that it is also a testament to the success of New Zealand's International Air Transport Policy, which provides additional opportunities for these airlines.

 

 

 

 

 

Airbus A319

 

Airbus A320

 

 

 

 

 

 

Airbus A321

Airbus A330-200

 

 

 

 

 

Airbus A330-300

 

 

 

 

Chengdu Shuangliu International Airport

HUB Airport

 

Chengdu Shuangliu International Airport is the major international airport serving Chengdu, the capital of China's Sichuan Province. Shuangliu International Airport is the hub airport for Sichuan Airlines as well as Chengdu Airlines. The airport has two runaways and can handle nearly 40 million passengers. 

 

Other airlines which fly to and from Chengdu Shuangliu International Airport include AirAsia, Air China, Air Maca, Asiana Airlines, Beijing Capital Airlines, British Airways, Hainan Airlines, EVA Air, Juneyao Airlines, KLM, Kunming Airlines and many others. 

 

 

Sichuan Airlines using the slogan: “Chinese Elements, Sichuan Charm”, is a regional airline from the Chinese city of Chengdu, which originally operated domestic schedules from its home base Chongqing Jiangbei International Airport. From 2012 Sichuan Airlines added international flights to Vancouver ad Melbourne from Chengdu and by November 2014 serves a route network of 84 countries including 11 international destinations, including Vietnam using Airbus A330-200 aircraft.

Sichuan Airlines currently as a fleet of nearly 100 Airbus aircraft and announced late in 2014 that it is starting daily flights between Chengdu to Lhasa (Tibet) and Kathmandu (Nepal)  from January 2015.