Hainan Airlines has begun flying between Beijing Capital International Airport and Belgrade Nikola Tesla Airport, the company said.
A celebration and ribbon cutting ceremony was held for the maiden flight and was attended by Serbia´s Prime Minister Ana Brnabic, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Construction Zorana Mihajlović, Chinese Ambassador to Serbia Li Manchang, Hainan Airlines Vice President Quan Dong and executives at several Chinese firms with operations in Serbia as well as a group of important local industry leaders and dignitaries.
In alignment with China´s One Belt, One Road initiative, Hainan Airlines plans to continue expanding its presence outside of its home market, especially across the countries of Central and Eastern Europe, most of which have already established close ties with China, said Quan Dong.
In recent years, Hainan Airlines has made rapid gains in its international reach, with the proportion of revenue attributable to the international segment growing year by year. In the second half of this year, in addition to the Beijing-Prague-Belgrade and Shanghai-Tel Aviv services which are already in operation, Hainan Airlines is scheduled to also launch Shanghai-Brussels, Shenzhen-Brisbane, Chongqing-New York, Chengdu-New York, Shenzhen-Brisbane and Shenzhen-Cairns services as well as several other intercontinental routes, further expanding the carrier´s international network around the globe.
