Chinese carrier Hainan Airlines is relaunching a direct flight between Tijuana and Beijing starting July 19. The route was suspended in January 2020 at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. 

The flight, which will operate two times per week on Mondays and Fridays, will cover an intercontinental distance of 10,250 kilometers and will have a duration of approximately 12 hours.

At the press conference announcing the flight, Baja California’s Tourism Minister Miguel Aguiñiga Rodríguez emphasized that his administration has focused on connecting the border city of Tijuana to new international destinations. By the end of 2024, Aguiñiga said that in addition to Beijing, Tijuana (TIJ) will offer two more international routes: to Phoenix and Las Vegas in the United States. These three international routes will join the 40 national routes that TIJ currently operates.  

The Pacific Airport Group (GAP), which operates 12 airports in Mexico’s Pacific coast states, has previously said that this flight is part of a growth strategy to turn Tijuana into an international hub connecting Asia with Central and South America. 

In an interview with the air industry magazine A21, GAP’s director of institutional relations Alejandra Soto said that the Tijuana airport has seen great growth thanks to the Cross Border Xpress (CBX) bridge, which connects the Mexican border city with Southern California. According to Soto, the bridge makes Tijuana an attractive access point to the United States from Asia and Central America.  

Before it was suspended, Hainan Airlines’s Tijuana-Beijing route, which also operated twice a week, had an 80% passenger capacity in an aircraft that could accommodate 200 passengers. The relaunched route will be onboard Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner aircrafts with a capacity for 290 passengers. The airline plans to offer some 1,260 seats per week.

The Tijuana-Beijing flight will be the second direct route between Mexico and China, following the launch of a direct flight between Mexico City and Shenzhen by China Southern Airlines in May. The 16-hour route is Mexico’s longest flight and the fourth longest in the world.  

With reports from La Jornada, Excélsior, El Imparcial and A21