Three new direct flights linking Chengdu, capital of Southwest China's Sichuan Province, with the northern Indian city of Delhi, Finland's capital Helsinki and Chicago in the US were opened on Monday.
A new passenger flight between Chicago's O'Hare International Airport and Shuangliu International Airport in Chengdu began on Monday.
This will be the first nonstop, scheduled passenger flight from the US Midwest to Southwest China.
Hainan Airlines will offer the nonstop flight service with a 213-seat B787-8 aircraft twice weekly, on Tuesdays and Saturdays. The flight takes 16 hours and five minutes westbound, and 14 hours and 50 minutes eastbound.
With the opening of the new air route, passengers flying from Chicago to Chengdu will have easier access to Chengdu's neighboring cities such as Guiyang and Kunming.
The Chicago-Chengdu air service is expected to bring $35 million in annual economic impact to the Chicago region. It will also benefit Chicago's growing global business and trade partnerships across China, where more than 150 Chicago-area companies have operations.
In late 2014, the city of Chicago signed the Gateway Cities Agreement with eight Chinese cities, namely Beijing, Shanghai, Tianjin, Qiandao, Shenyang, Hangzhou, Wuhan and Chengdu.
From July 15 to 23, 2019, World Business Chicago led a business mission to China to continue to strengthen economic ties and further implement the Gateway Cities Agreement. The mission stopped in Chengdu and Beijing, and met with Hainan Airlines leadership.
China has remained one of the top trading partners of US Midwestern states for many years, as well as an important source of investment.
In the first 11 months of 2018, Chinese tourists visiting Chicago increased by 2.1 percent from the same period of 2017, according to Choose Chicago statistics.
An Airbus 330 with 278 passengers on board landed at Helsinki Airport on Monday, opening a new flight route from Chengdu to Helsinki operated by Sichuan Airlines.
Sichuan Airlines became the third Chinese airline to open a new flight to Helsinki this summer. Tibet Airlines began flying to Helsinki from Jinan in April, and Juneyao Airlines had its maiden flight on this route in June.
"This has been a very special year for Helsinki Airport, since three Chinese airlines have started their routes," said Petri Vuori, Vice President of Finavia, or the Finnish Airport Operator.
Responsible for sales and route development, Vuori said, "It is not very normal to have so many airlines from one country starting in a year," as it usually requires many years to launch a new route.
The latest, twice-weekly route from Chengdu, Western China, to Helsinki was developed on the basis of an original Chengdu-Copenhagen route. Sichuan Airlines added Helsinki as a stopover point to materialize the new route that connects Chengdu with two Nordic destinations.
Thus far, Sichuan Airlines operates more than 50 international flights.
The Chengdu-Delhi air route is operated daily by IndiGo Airlines, India's largest carrier, which has entered the Chinese mainland market for the first time.
