Birmingham could become first regional city with direct flights to China

Papers filed with China's aviation authority show that Beijing Capital Airlines is asking for permission to launch regular scheduled services between Birmingham and the Chinese cities of Beijing and Hangzhou as early as next April.

That is two months before Manchester is due to start its regular flights to China after a deal unveiled last month as part of the UK visit by Chinese president Xi Jinping.

Beijing Capital filed its plans with the Civil Aviation Administration of China on Monday. It would run weekly flights to Beijing and Hangzhou from April next year using an Airbus A330, a twin-engine jet that can carry around 222 passengers.

Birmingham Airport is remaining tight lipped over the revelations, as it is understood negotiations with the airline are still under way.

In a brief statement an airport spokesperson would only say: "Birmingham Airport continues to work with its partners to operate flights to China again next year to meet the enormous demand there is for direct connectivity to and from the Midlands."

If the move is successful it will prove a huge coup for Birmingham, which has invested heavily in recent years in lengthening its runway to cater for longer haul aircraft that can reach China and the West Coast of the USA.

It has already attracted limited summer services from China over the last two years, with thousands of Chinese tourists flying into the West Midlands on package holidays.

The region also has close business links with China, including several Chinese owned car companies such as MG Motors at Longbridge. Coventry's London Taxi International is owned by Chinese car giant Geely which is based in Hangzhou. In addition, China is the area's biggest overseas trading partner.

Beijing Capital has only recently moved into long-haul flights, with its first service to Copenhagen launched in September. It plans to fly to Madrid in December.

The airline is owned by the HNA Group and is set to take delivery of more than 30 new wide-bodied jets by the end of 2020.

HNA also owns Hainan Airlines, which is the carrier set to start running four flights a week to China from Manchester next June. And Hainan is the airline that ran the charter flights between Birmingham and Beijing this summer.