By Xinyi Li iChongqing news 

On December 18th, the ceremonial opening of the first flight from Chongqing to Paris was held at the Chongqing Jiangbei International Airport. It is the first non-stop flight between the two cities and will be operated with a Boeing 787. The first flight will take off tomorrow. It is an important event associated with Fly with Chongqing, and the ceremony was held at the newly completed Terminal 3. The ceremony was attended by leaders from the Chongqing Municipal Commission of Culture and Tourism Development, Chongqing Municipal Supervision Bureau, Chongqing Traffic, and Chongqing Airport Group participated in the ceremony.

You Can Also Win a Free Trip From Paris to Chongqing

According to Hainan Airlines, the non-stop flight will shorten the distance between the two cities. "It will only take 12 hours to travel to-, and experience, the romance of Paris!" said Liu Jichun. The new route from Chongqing to Paris will be the airline's second direct route to Europe, the first being to Rome, Italy. At the ceremony, Hainan airline also gave away two tickets to winners in the crowd. "It is a pity that I cannot take the free flight to Paris this year," said one of the winners; "but I will visit Paris on vacation to experience its beauty and romance!"

Hainan Airlines is also offering up a free round-trip ticket online, from Paris to Chongqing. You can learn more about the competition and take part in the lottery by Clicking Here!

Improving Economic Development and Building an International Travel Hub

Paris is the political, economic, cultural and commercial center in France, as the biggest city and the capital there. In the meantime, it is one of the top 5 international metropolises in the world.

While Paris a city well-known throughout the world for its romance, and is a well-established metropolis, Chongqing is the youngest municipality in China, gaining independence from Sichuan province in 1997. Regarded as one of the major transportation hubs, as well as one of the most important industrial and commercial cities in Southwest China, Chongqing also intersects two large and influential economic zones; the Yangtze River Economic Belt and the Silk Road Economic Belt. This unique position has made Chongqing a key city for international trade in China.

Hainan Airlines currently started operating several non-stop flights to popular destinations such as Rome, Los Angeles, and New York City. They have also opened multi-city flights to Chicago, Toronto, Boston, and Seattle. With the addition of the new route to Paris, passengers can more easily reach Western Europe and strengthen the bond of communication, politics, economy, and culture. The route will also serve to develop Chongqing Jiangbei International Airport into a large international transportation hub.

There Will Be 100 Flights from Chongqing by 2020

Flight HU717 from Chongqing to Paris will depart at 1:30 am from Chongqing Jiangbei International Airport, arriving at Charles De Gaulle Airport in Paris at 6:20 am in the morning, local time. 

To this day, there are 80 international and regional air routes, but by the year 2020 that number should rise to about 100 routes in total. It is estimated that Chongqing Jiangbei International Airport will handle upwards of 50 million passengers a year, with around 5 million passengers traveling internationally. Freight capacity will also increase, estimated to reach about 1 million tons by 2020. The goal is for the airport in Chongqing to become one of the largest transportation hubs for passengers as well as cargo in inland China.

Flight details for the Chongqing-Paris route can be found below, all the times are local times and are subject to final adjustments from Hainan Airlines.

Flight No.	Aircraft	Schedule	From	Departure Time	To	Arrival Time
HU717	Boeing 787	Wednesday + Saturday	Chongqing	1:30 am	Paris	6:20 am
HU718	Boeing 787	Wednesday + Saturday	Paris	1:00 pm	Chongqing	6:30 am