Air China to launch flights to Beijing from London Gatwick May 1

Air China recently announced that it will launch flights to Beijing from London Gatwick airport from May 1, 2012.

Air China becomes the latest long-haul carrier to introduce four-time weekly flights to Beijing from next year in the month of May.

The airline currently operates daily flights to London Heathrow from Beijing, with codeshare partnership with Virgin Atlantic on the Beijing-London Heathrow route. Besides Air China, this route is also served by British Airways.

Air China in a statement said that flights to London Gatwick will depart Beijing at 0135 on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays. While, the return flights to Beijing from London Gatwick will depart on the same day at 1315. The airline will deploy Airbus A330-200 aircraft on the route.

Korean Air and Hong Kong Airlines are also scheduled to start flights to Seoul and Hong Kong respectively in 2012 from London Gatwick.