Hainan Airlines, the largest privately owned Chinese airline and China's fourth-largest air carrier, will start direct flights from Beijing to Tel Aviv in 2015.
The airline, is seeking to operate three direct weekly flights from Beijing to Israel this year, expanding Israel's direct link to the world's largest outgoing tourism market. In 2014, 116 million Chinese tourists traveled the world, but only about 34,100 came to Israel.
Currently, only El Al flies between China and Israel, with three weekly flights. The route will operate on days that El Al flights to Beijing do not: Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays.
Hainan Airlines, who are ranked as one of only seven airlines to be ranked as a five-star airline by Skytrax, corresponds to a total of 3,000,000 accident-free flight hours since the airline's establishment in 1993 have been given approval to fly up to 14 weekly flights, however it is expected that they will begin service from Beijing to Tel Aviv with no more than one daily flight.
