Dublin Airport has announced the launch of Hainan Airlines’ new year-round direct service to Shenzhen.
Known to be China’s tech hub, Shenzhen is described as ‘China’s most innovative city’ by Lonely Planet and ranked second in its Top 10 Cities to visit in 2019. The city is a about a 40-minute bullet train ride away from both Hong Kong and Guangzhou.
The airline will operate two flights per week between Dublin and Shenzhen. The service will be operated on Mondays and Fridays with a Boeing 787-900 Dreamliner with 289 seats.
‘We are delighted Hainan is expanding its network from Dublin by adding this second destination to China,’ said Dublin Airport Managing Director Vincent Harrison. ‘Shenzhen is a really exciting destination for both business and leisure travel,’ Mr Harrison added. ‘The new route will further increase trade, tourism and investment between Ireland and China and expand the growing number of Chinese visitors to Ireland.’
Hainan Airlines’ General Manager Ireland, Ryan Zhang said: ‘We are delighted to launch this second direct route between Dublin and China. We are proud that Hainan Airlines is playing a central role in forging greater friendship and cooperation between our two countries. We look forward to welcoming many Irish and Chinese guests on board our five-star Skytrax service.’
Shenzhen will be Dublin Airport’s second destination in mainland China, as Hainan already operates a Dublin-Beijing service. Last June, Hainan launched the service to Beijing via Edinburgh. On alternate days the service either operates direct between Dublin and Beijing or has a stopover in Edinburgh.
Hainan’s Shenzhen service is one of 20 new routes at Dublin Airport for this year. Dublin Airport has flights to nearly 200 destinations in 43 countries, operated by 56 airlines.