Hainan to Beijing
Whilst on the subject of declining MAN - LHR traffic the below might explain why so many are side stepping LHR
I am normally a big user of Business EK for travel east but the new Hainan service was tried for a weeks business in Beijing. (Business class)
The flight appeared full in the back and up front there were only a couple of seats left, passengers I would say 95% Chinese of all ages. Judging by the amount of freight coming off Id also say that was doing well.
I was a bit sceptical of the 5 star airline rating but I can confirm in my opinion it deserves the ranking. Everything about the flight was superb, the IFE was simple to operate with high quality Bose headsets (unfortunately had to give them back !) Seating and privacy layout very good, not as Blingy as EK though. Nice Chinese jimjams (thats one xmas present found !!) and other high quality freebies.
The food was absolutely superb and on par with top notch restaurant food (Hatherways restaurant have something to do with it)
The only down side to the journey was having to be bussed from remote and joining the throng to get through Terminal 2 Chinese immigration and customs which appeared to be on minimum manning.
So all in all very good, I will report back on the return flight to MAN later in the week.