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Tianjin Airlines is the latest Chinese carrier to stretch its wings to Australia following the arrival of its inaugural service to Melbourne.
Flight GS7945, operated by Airbus A330-200 B-8596, landed at Melbourne Tullamarine at 1130 local time on Wednesday, some 10 and a half hours after departing from Chongqing.
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The aircraft was on the ground for about two hours before operating the reciprocal GS7946 back to Chongqing.
Tianjin Airlines has scheduled three flights a week to Melbourne, its first Australian destination and second in Oceania. The airline started Tianjin-Chongqing-Auckland flights in December 2016.
And a report on the Airline Route website from mid-October showed the airline had filed a proposed twice weekly Tianjin-Zhengzhou-Sydney service due to start on January 28 2018 with A330-200s. However, the flight is not yet bookable on the airline’s website.
The Chinese carrier is one of the HNA Group-affiliated carriers alongside Beijing Capital Airlines, Hainan Airlines and Hong Kong Airlines that are part of the alliance with Virgin Australia that received approval from competition regulators in June.
HNA is a major shareholder in Virgin Australia.
Darren
says:Loving the arrival of new airlines, seems Chinese airlines love bringing their A330s to AUS
Roger
says:Many of these smaller Chinese airlines don’t have any other aircraft that can operate the flight nonstop.
Steve
says:Having read a little about the culture of this airline in particular and Chinese avaition as a whole, it matters not what the soft product is like, or how good the fares are: I will not fly with this airline. If you have any interest in aviation safety and organisational culture, you might consider likewise.
Ian
says:Your comment is a little unnecessary Steve. Many years ago safety was a real issue with Chinese airlines flying (mostly older) soviet equipment. Its a different story now …when did you last hear of a major incident with a Chinese airline?.All are now using modern Western airliners. I have no safety issue with any of them. Do you really think the authorities here would allow any of them to fly here if there were safety concerns? No.