Thread: Hawaiian to Launch HNL - PEK

Hawaiian Airlines will start flying from Honolulu to mainland China in April, a route the US carrier is confident will become one of its fastest-growing in Asia even as competition from Chinese rivals heats up. Hawaiian Airlines, which has been flying Chinese tourists to HNL via ICN, will now fly directly from PEK three times a week from April 18.The carrier also intends to expands its service to China, adding more frequencies and flying to other cities such as Shanghai, Hong Kong and Guangzhou in the future. Today Chinese visitors are a relative small proportion of that total, but given the strong economy and the growing middle class, the number of Chinese visitors will grow, grow and grow in the years ahead. The number of Chinese visitors to Hawaii has risen by around 40 percent a year since 2012, according to the latest figures from the Hawaii Tourism Authority, which cited shopping and entertainment as the most popular activities.They also have deep pockets: daily spending by Chinese tourists was the highest out of all visitors to Hawaii at just under USD$400 a person, tourism authority data shows.