A Boeing 787 aircraft of Hainan Airlines Photo: Courtesy of Hainan Airlines

As the fourth largest carrier in China, Hainan Airlines has not confined its routes to the domestic market.

Instead, it has sought to carve out a niche by adding overseas routes. Boeing 787s could be a way to achieve this ambition.

The airline added the first Boeing 787 to its fleet in 2013. It now has 10 Boeing 787-8s in service, which it primarily employs for its Chicago, Boston and Seattle routes.

Hainan ordered 30 Boeing 787-9 jets in March, which it plans to put in the air before 2021.

The Boeing 787 is a wide-body, twin-engine jet with a carbon-composite fuselage for improved fuel efficiency. The long-haul jet can fly about 14,500 kilometers, long enough for a nonstop flight from Beijing to the east coast of the US.

The Boeing 787 performs well mainly because of its carbon-composite fuselage, which cuts fuel consumption by 16 percent, said Pu Ming, vice president of Hainan Airlines. Employing the jet could save the company 200,000 tons of fuel a year.

Pu said the aircraft could also cut 30 minutes from its current flight time for a long-haul route using competitive aircraft.

"We expect to use the Boeing 787 for more long-haul routes," Pu told the Global Times on May 21.

The expanded use of Boeing 787 models for Hainan Airlines has narrowed the gap with three State-owned airlines in terms of its wide-body airplanes.

According to data from Centre for Aviation (CAPA), Hainan Airlines had the fourth largest number of wide-body passenger aircraft in China, after Air China with 83, China Eastern Airlines with 59 and China Southern Airlines with 57 by the end of March.

Hainan's fleet expansion is in line with its international strategy, which focuses on routes from China to the US. The airline also has an eye on the European market.

In June, Hainan Airlines will conduct maiden flights from Beijing to San Jose, Shanghai to Boston and Shanghai to Seattle. All the routes will employ Boeing 787s.

The company has applied to the Civil Aviation Administration of China to start a route using a Boeing 787 from Changsha, capital of Central China's Hunan Province, to Los Angeles in July.

According to the airline, the flying hours per day for 10 Boeing 787 jets is 12.25 on average, and the passenger load factor (PLF) for the routes from the Chinese mainland to North America is no less than 80 percent, and the PLF for the business cabin is about 50 percent.

North America is Hainan's largest international market, currently accounting for 31 percent of its seat capacity, according to CAPA. CAPA predicts to see the North American share of its seat capacity increase to 38 percent by this summer.

The company hopes to increase the market share of international routes in its performance to 20 to 30 percent by 2020.

With the new orders of Boeing 787s, Hainan has become one of the top five carriers in the world in terms of Boeing 787 aircraft.

Other carriers have also been ordering the aircraft.

Xiamen Airlines received its first Boeing 787-8 in 2014. The airline said it plans to start a long-haul route from Xiamen to Amsterdam in July. Air China is expected to receive the first Boeing 787 in 2016.

Data from Boeing showed that there were 31 clients flying 276 Boeing 787s as of earlier this month.

More than 1 million commercial flight hours have been logged on Boeing 787s around the globe.
Newspaper headline: Hainan expansion lifted by 787s