What is interesting is that we are actually late with the news.
According to various sources, and available in French, Hainan actually used the launch of their Paris route on Sept 4th to also announce Manchester and a Brussels as an African transit point.
Hang on, so aside from Twatter, I have yet to see so much as a link to a press release despite a fait bit of google-play. Given Air China have been looking to start this and Hainan is as close to a competitor as they've got (it sits outside the CA/CZ/MU triad), are politics involved? CA seems like more bang for your buck here.
Im assuming MAN are waiting for the optimal time to jointly announce the new Hainan route
Yeah, that would be after we're sure it's going to happen, much like Delta's MAN-DTW? It seems clear someone has jumped the gun in their eagerness to be seen to be leading the news agenda perhaps.