Hainan Airlines to be flying Belgrade-Beijing route?

Hainan Airlines, the biggest Chinese private airline, both for its market share and for the size of its fleet, will initiate more than ten international flights this year, and Belgrade might be one of the new destinations.

As reported by ExYu Aviation News, Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic recently said that he expected an agreement to be reached with a private Chinese airline on establishing flights between Beijing and Belgrade.

– Air Serbia is not in the position to fly to China directly. This is why I’ve asked the Chinese company to step in and we are very close to reaching an agreement – he said.

Last month, Vucic talked to representatives of HNA Aviation, the parent company of Hainan Airlines, during the Davos World Economic Forum.

Higher Vice President of the company, Hou Wei, told Chinese media that the campaign for the new Silk Road and bilateral free trade agreement, encompassing Serbia, had increased mobility among people and the need to establish air routes to certain destination.

The Chinese-Serbian relations have been enhanced by the new Silk Road initiative, the arrival of several big Chinese companies to Serbia and the abolition of the visa regime between the two countries.

– Compared to 2016, increasingly more countries are working on simplifying the procedures of issuing visas to Chinese travelers, including the implementation of digital visas, reducing visa fees and shortening the period of waiting for a visa to be issued – said President of Hainan Airlines Sun Jianfeng.