One of my regular hobbies is trying to figure out ways to get to London in premium cabins, including premium economy and business class. That’s both for myself (both for the review and for the fun of it), as well as for those around me – in fact, I do this professionally from time to time. One of the main recent themes is the rise of Chinese airlines that now fly to London.
In this post, I thought it’d be fun to highlight all of the different mainland Chinese carriers that fly to London (both Heathrow and Gatwick). Seven carriers fly 67x weekly flights between London and China, and connect 11 cities to London with a nonstop flight. The aim of the post is to highlight the variety of Chinese destinations that you can fly to nonstop from London, as well as the one-stop options that you have if you’re trying to book a trip to/from Southeast Asia.
Chinese airlines can offer a great deal between Asia and Europe
I confess that I haven’t flown a Chinese airline in a while (though I have plans to in the coming month). While the experience can be much different than on southeast Asian carriers, it’s indubitable that they can offer great value between Asia and Europe. For example, it’d be rude to say no to this £727 (HK$7,516) one-way China Southern Airlines business class fare from Incheon to London Heathrow, via Beijing’s newest airport.
Also, while the experience can vary wildly between carriers, most of what I’ve seen about Chinese carriers has been positive, especially post-COVID (and these have mainly been from YouTubers that aren’t based in China). Many airlines have modernised their fleet and updated their soft product, and some even have business class seats with doors, similar to some of the leading airlines in the industry.
While different people will feel differently about this, you’ll also get a much shorter flight time if you’re flying a Chinese airline. This is because while many carriers in Europe and Asia can’t fly across Russia anymore, China and Russia still have warm relations, so all mainland Chinese airlines fly over Russian airspace regularly. For example, the Shanghai to London China Eastern flight is blocked at 12h, whereas the British Airways flight is blocked at 15h 5m.
Can you get on a Chinese carrier if you don’t have a visa?
In 2024, China implemented a 24-hour visa-free transit policy for all ports across China. You are allowed to leave the airport during this time, though you do need to register at a certain area of the airport. I confess that as someone from Hong Kong, I don’t have that much experience with this, though nobody I know has had an issue with it.
Unlike most other countries, China’s visa-free policy depends not just on nationality, but also on which airport you land into. Many of the country’s largest airports allow for a 144-hour visa-free transit policy for 54 nationalities – some of these do require you to fly in and out of the same airport. You can read more information about which airports allow this here.
Shenzhen Airport is part of the 144-hour visa-free transit scheme
With that in mind, it’s time to see which airlines currently operate between mainland China and London, and which Chinese cities London has a direct link to.
Air China – Beijing-Capital and Chengdu to Heathrow, Shanghai-Pudong to Gatwick
China’s flag carrier flies 24x flights weekly between London and China, including the following:
- 2x daily between Beijing-Capital (PEK) and London Heathrow (LHR)
- 1x daily between Shanghai-Pudong (PVG) and London Gatwick (LGW)
- 3x weekly between Chengdu-Tianfu (TFU) and London Heathrow (LHR)
Air China also flew from Beijing to London Gatwick daily this summer with an A350, though that flight isn’t being operated this winter.
Air China operates 24x weekly between China and London
The airline recently started operating their A350 on one of their Beijing-London flights. Air China’s older A350s feature a reverse herringbone seat, whereas their newer A350s feature enclosed suites – it’s a lottery draw as to which one you get on your particular flight (and the seatmaps look identical, perhaps intentionally).
The other two flights to Shanghai and Chengdu were already being operated by similar A350s. The remaining Beijing-London flight continues to be operated by an older 777, with a 2-2-2 configuration in business class.
Some, but not all of Air China’s A350s feature enclosed suites in business class
As Air China is part of the Star Alliance, the airline uses Terminal 2 at Heathrow.
Beijing Capital Airlines – Qingdao to Heathrow
Here’s one that surprised me – Beijing Capital Airlines operates a service from Qingdao to London Heathrow. Beijing Capital Airlines is a Hainan Airlines subsidiary, and is based out of Beijing’s new Daxing airport.
In this list, there’s a trend of airlines that operate flights to London out of their focus cities, as opposed to their hubs. Beijing Capital Airlines is one of these airlines – contrary to its namesake, the airline doesn’t operate from Beijing to London, though rather only operates out of Qingdao.
This flight operates twice weekly on Mondays and Fridays using an A330. The route is consistently operated by a single airframe, B-1042, which features reverse herringbone seats in business class. You can find a photo of the cabin here, though these are Super Diamond seats.
Beijing Capital Airlines/Hong Kong Airlines Business Class
Beijing Capital Airlines uses Terminal 3 at Heathrow Airport, much like of the other Hainan Airlines subsidiaries. If you’re wondering, all HNA Group passengers are invited to use the British Airways Galleries lounge at Heathrow T3 (you can’t use another Oneworld partner airline lounge).
China Eastern Airlines – Shanghai-Pudong to Heathrow and Gatwick
China Eastern is another large airline that flies to London. While China Eastern has a plethora of focus cities, this carrier only operates flights to London out of their hub, Shanghai-Pudong. China Eastern operates flights to both Heathrow and Gatwick on a daily basis.
Both of these flights are operated by 777s, featuring a first, business and economy class cabin (no premium economy). While China Eastern has A350s with enclosed suites in business class and a premium economy cabin, they don’t fly these planes to London at all.
China Eastern’s 777 Business Class
At Heathrow, China Eastern uses Terminal 4, and passengers use the Plaza Premium lounge.
China Southern Airlines – Beijing-Daxing, Guangzhou, Wuhan to Heathrow, Zhengzhou to Gatwick
China Southern is the largest airline in southeast Asia by fleet size, capacity, and revenue, so it’s to nobody’s surprise that they connect London to the most Chinese cities. Perhaps more surprisingly, they only operate 18x weekly flights between China and London, which is 6x fewer than Air China.
China Southern flies the following routes:
- 1x daily between Beijing-Daxing (PKX) and Heathrow (LHR)
- 1x daily between Guangzhou (CAN) and Heathrow (LHR)
- 2x weekly between Wuhan (WUH) and Heathrow (LHR)
- 2x weekly between Zhengzhou (CGO) and Gatwick (LGW)
The Beijing flight is operated by an A350, whereas all of the other flights are operated by 787s. All flights feature some form of staggered business class seat, though only the A350 flight features a premium economy cabin.
China Southern’s A350s have a premium economy cabin
China Southern, much like China Eastern, also uses Terminal 4 at Heathrow Airport, with premium passengers using the Plaza Premium lounge.
Hainan Airlines – Changsha, Haikou to Heathrow
The HNA airline group’s flagship airline, Hainan Airlines, flies three weekly flights to Heathrow:
- 2x weekly between Changsha (CSX) and Heathrow (LHR)
- 1x weekly between Haikou (HAK) and Heathrow (LHR)
In all cases, these seem to be operated by 787-9s with a 2-2-2 configuration in business class, and no premium economy cabin. Hainan Airlines does have lots of 787s with reverse herringbone business class seats, though none of them operate the London route.
Hainan Airlines 787 Business Class
Hainan Airlines uses Terminal 3 at Heathrow Airport, with premium passengers using the British Airways Galleries lounge.
Shenzhen Airlines – Shenzhen to Heathrow
Shenzhen Airlines operates a four-times-weekly flight from Shenzhen to London Heathrow using an A330. The airline features a three-cabin interior with business class, premium economy, and economy class, though premium economy is laid out in the same configuration as economy with a little bit of extra legroom. Business class is laid out in a 2-2-2 configuration.
Shenzhen Airlines A330 Business Class
Shenzhen Airlines uses Terminal 2 at Heathrow Airport, as it’s part of the Star Alliance. Premium passengers have access to all Star Alliance lounges, including the Singapore Airlines SilverKris lounge, Air Canada lounge, United Club, and the Lufthansa lounge.
Tianjin Airlines – Xi’an to Heathrow
Tianjin Airlines is another part of the HNA Aviation airline group. They operate twice weekly from Xi’an to London Heathrow – the flight actually originates from Tianjin, though there are no nonstop flights from Tianjin to London.
Tianjin Airlines used to have planes with reverse herringbone seats, though they transferred those to Hong Kong Airlines. Their entire four-strong A330 fleet now features fully flat business class seats in a 2-2-2 configuration.
Here’s a video of what their A330 business class looks like – they have fully flat Aura Lite business class seats.
How to take advantage of fare deals with Chinese airlines
When flying Chinese airlines, generally you’ll have to play around with your point of origin in order to get a cheap ticket. Of course, the sweet spot is if the cheap origin fare comes from the airport you were going to fly out of anyway, though sometimes you might have to do a little positioning to take advantage of a cheap fare deal.
If you’re flying from Asia to Europe, generally I find that Shanghai (PVG), Wuhan (WUH), Chongqing (CKG), Chengdu (CTU/TFU), Hangzhou (HGH) tend to have the best origin fares on Chinese airlines. You’ll also occasionally find cheap fares out of Hong Kong (HKG), Bangkok (BKK), Seoul (ICN), and I’d go through some of the other major southeast Asian ports to see whether there are any Chinese carrier flights from there.
I don’t have as much luck out of Beijing (PEK/PKX), Shenzhen (SZX), Guangzhou (CAN), Qingdao (TAO), Xi’an (XIY), Haikou (HAK), or Shenyang (SHE), or any of the other major Chinese airports. Due to greater supply and much more elastic travel demand, you’ll generally more easily find cheap flight tickets in eastern China than western China, so I’d struggle to find flights out of airports such as Kunming (KMG) or Ürümqi (URC).
I’ve not been super successful finding cheap airfare out of Kunming Airport (KMG)
When flying out of Europe, generally you’ll find the cheapest flights to be out of EU destinations serviced by Chinese carriers, such as Madrid (MAD), Rome (FCO), Budapest (BUD), etc.. Keep in mind that if flying out of London, you’ll still have to pay the Air Passenger Duty tax.
Conclusion
Seven Chinese airlines cumulatively operate 67x weekly flights to London, from 12 different airports in China (or 11 cities, as flights operates to both of Beijing’s airports). The above post detailed what these were, as well as opportunities to find cheap fare deals to sample these flights, especially in premium cabins.
I’ve got plans to fly some of these flights soon, and would love to report back on what the onboard experience is like!
Have you flown a Chinese airline to London before?
