Air China has officially launched a nonstop service between Southwest China's Chengdu and Sydney, Austria, becoming the first direct route between the two cities.
The flag carrier's inaugural Chengdu-Sydney flight CA429, operated by Airbus A330-200 configured with 30 business class and 207 economy class seats, took off from Chengdu Shuangliu International Airport at 10:50 p.m. on Friday.
The A320 aircraft, B-6541, received an Airservices Aviation Rescue and Fire Fighting (ARFF) monitor cross as it made its way to the international terminal after touching down Sydney Airport on Saturday noon, after a 10 and a half hour journey from Chengdu, capital of Southwest China's Sichuan Province.
Flight CA429 is scheduled to depart Chengdu every Tuesday, Friday and Sunday at 10:55 a.m. and arrive in Sydney at 12:35 p.m. the following day. Following a brief layover, flight CA430 will take off from Sydney at 2:35 p.m. and touch back down in Chengdu at 10:35 p.m.
"This new thrice-weekly route to Sydney marks Air China's third intercontinental flight from Chengdu and our first nonstop service between western China and Oceania," said Rui Jie, Air China General Manager Australia, "which reflected the increased demand for travel from China to Australia."
With increasing demand from both the business and leisure market, Air China knows the introduction of the direct Sydney to Chengdu service will help support this demand.
"As the first Chinese airline to operate into Australia and havin flown between China and Australia for the last 32 years, Air China has seen firsthand the increasingly strong growth and development of services between our countries."
Currently, Air China flies from Sydney to Beijing, Shanghai and Chengdu. It also offers nonstop service from Melbourne to Beijing and Shanghai, with flights to Shenzhen due to start in January 2017.
The Chengdu-Sydney flight will establish a new "bridge in the sky" to help boost economic, trade and cultural exchanges.
Chengdu is Air China's second largest hub offering connections to over 47 destinations within China and international cities including Frankfurt, Paris and Rome.
Sydney Airport has service from six airlines from mainland China -- Air China, China Eastern, China Southern, Hainan Airlines, Sichuan Airlines and Xiamen Air -- flying to 13 destinations. Hong Kong's Cathay Pacific and Taiwan's China Airlines also serve Sydney.
