THE first ever direct air link between Beijing and the North West is to be formally announced tomorrow.
The new flight, from Manchester, will be formally unveiled by Chinese President Xi Jinping who is currently on a state visit to the UK. He will be joined at the airport, on Friday morning, by Prime Minister David Cameron. It is believed this is where the handshakes and formalites will be made.
The four-times-a-week service will operated by China’s Hainan Airlines and will start next June, although, ahead of the announcement, ambassador to Britain Liu Xiaoming has revealed seats can already be booked on the Hainan website.
The ambassador said: "Both China and the UK are open for business. Their respective strengths in economic and trade cooperation are well matched. During the state visit, President Xi will attend the launch of a new direct flight between Manchester and Bejing.
"These are on top of a host of substantial cooperation agreements to be signed between the two sides, covering economy, trade, investment, infrastructure, scientific innovation, manufacturing and sports.
"Together, they will catapult exchanges and cooperation between Manchester, the Northern Powerhouse and Chinese cities across the board.”
Securing a direct flight to China has been a long term ambition of both Manchester Airports Group and the city as a whole.
It will be seen as a huge shot in the arm to efforts to boost trade between the north of England and the fast-growing Far East economy. A direct link between Manchester and Hong Kong is already proving to be a success. That recently introduced flight was the first ever between Manchester and China.
But airport bosses at Manchester have always viewed direct flights to Beijing as the golden prize, with a direct link to Shanghai also on their wish list.
Credit for the Beijing link follows the launch of a Manchester-China Forum, which has worked behind the scenes for direct flights.
Manchester Airport’s major business and industrial hub, Airport City, has already seen significant investment of £800 million from the Chinese state-owned Beijing Construction and Engineering Group. The project aims to lure global firms to the giant business park being built next to Manchester Airport’s main terminals. BCEG has also recently invested in a major development programme by former Manchester United players Gary Neville and Ryan Giggs.
