China-based Hainan Airlines inaugurated its first flight since 2012 to the Sydney Airport from Xi’an, the Shaanxi province capital, on Thursday. After Air China, China Eastern, China Southern, Sichuan Airlines and Xiamen Airlines, Hainan Airlines has now become the sixth Chinese Airlines operating in Sydney Airport.

“Sydney Airport’s pleased to welcome Hainan Airlines’ twice weekly service from Xi’an to Sydney, marking our sixth new airline in 2015 and making us the world’s leading airport for Chinese long haul carriers,” Sydney Airport managing director and chief executive officer Kerrie Mather said in a statement. Hainan Airlines' arrival is great news for tourism in Sydney and NSW, with an expected $26.5 million in additional annual visitor expenditure. Securing another new Chinese airline for Sydney Airport is testament to our continued work with government and industry partners to provide a positive visitor experience and attract more Chinese visitors to Sydney, our fastest growing inbound visitor market.”

Hainan Airlines said it is pleased to announce that the new routes will connect North Western China with Oceania for the first time. The Airlines will operate on the route with Airbus A330-200 aircraft with 222 seats.

The direct flights from Xi’an to Rome and Paris along with Xi’an’s 72-hour visa free period offer Australian travellers headed for Europe reasonable grounds to travel via Xi’an.

Minister for Trade, Tourism and Major Events Stuart Ayres said that NSW gets the largest number of visitors from China every year with more than 536,000 visitors only in the year ended in September 2015.

“We are delighted to welcome another international airline to Sydney, bringing even more visitors to our fantastic city and surrounding NSW regions this summer,” he said.

Hainan’s flights to Sydney from Xi’an departs at 17:10 local time on Wednesdays and Sundays and the flights from Sydney to Xi’an take off at 10:15 AEST.

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