Xiamen Airlines launches direct flight from Xiamen to London

China News Service, London, September 8 (Reporter Ouyang Kaiyu) Xiamen Airlines held a promotion conference for the first flight from Xiamen to London in London on September 7. Representatives from the Chinese Embassy in the UK, VisitBritain, Fujian Provincial and Xiamen municipal governments, Chinese-funded institutions, overseas Chinese representatives, and relevant personnel from Heathrow Airport attended the event.

On September 6, Xiamen Airlines flight MF821 departed from Xiamen Gaoqi International Airport and successfully arrived at London Heathrow Airport, marking the official opening of the direct flight between Xiamen and London, the British capital.

The person in charge of Xiamen Airlines said that this is the first direct passenger route from Fujian to the United Kingdom. It completely rewrites the current situation that Fujian and the United Kingdom must transit through a third place. It fills the gap in Fujian's direct flights to the United Kingdom's world-class aviation hub. Passengers can easily transit through London to reach many European cities. Xiamen Airlines will continue to deepen cooperation with European airlines and railway operators to provide passengers with more convenient and efficient transfer services and promote broader cooperation between Fujian and Europe in the fields of economic, trade, investment, cultural tourism and other fields.

Pictured is the event site. Photo by Ouyang Kaiyu

The route has entered normal operation since September 6 and will fly every Wednesday, Friday and Sunday. The Xiamen-London flight number is MF821/MF822 and is operated by a Boeing 787 wide-body Dreamliner. It takes off from Xiamen at 00:50 and arrives at London Heathrow Airport at 06:35. The return flight takes off from London Heathrow at 12:35 and lands in Xiamen at 07:00 the next day (flight times are all local time). The whole flight lasts about 12 hours. The route design takes full consideration of transfer connections and travel experience. The outbound flight takes off from Xiamen in the early morning. Domestic and foreign passengers can fully rely on Xiamen Airlines' aviation network. Whether they are overseas cities such as Sydney, Melbourne, Singapore, or major domestic cities such as Beijing, Shanghai, Chongqing, Nanjing, Hangzhou, Changsha, etc., they can arrive in Xiamen the day before and connect to intercontinental flights after a short rest. The flight lands at London Heathrow early in the morning, which not only facilitates business negotiations and meeting docking for business passengers after landing, but also reserves sufficient transit time for passengers who need to continue to transfer to Denmark, Sweden, Ireland and other European countries, greatly reducing the time cost of long-distance travel. The return flight takes off from London at noon and arrives in Xiamen early the next morning, which also facilitates returning passengers to smoothly connect to subsequent domestic flights and reduces travel fatigue caused by jet lag.

Currently, China-UK economic, trade, cultural and tourism exchanges continue to heat up. Fujian is a famous hometown of overseas Chinese. There are a large number of Fujian overseas Chinese living in the UK. At the same time, many Fujian students go to the UK to study. There is a strong demand for personnel exchanges between Fujian and the UK. London is an important financial, educational and tourism center city in the world. It is also an important hub for personnel exchanges, economic and trade cooperation and cultural exchanges between China and the UK. London Heathrow Airport is one of the busiest aviation hubs in the world. The opening of the Xiamen-London direct flight will significantly shorten the time and cost of personnel exchanges between the two places, further enhance the convenience of economic, trade and people-to-people exchanges between the two places, inject new momentum into Fujian's opening to the outside world, and inject new vitality into deepening exchanges and cooperation between China and the UK. (over)