China Eastern now flying from Sydney to Hangzhou

There’s a fresh way to fly across the Tasman Sea from today with China Eastern Airlines introducing two new routes to China: direct from Sydney-Hangzhou and from Sydney to Hangzhou via Auckland. 

Now jetting off to Hangzhou four times a week – twice direct from Sydney and twice via New Zealand, the new Airbus A330 link arrives less than a week after the SkyTeam member restarted flights between Brisbane and Shanghai.

China Eastern’s A330 sports a 2-2-2 layout in business class, which means no direct aisle access for every passenger but does deliver a fully-flat bed to stretch out on the near-11 hour flight to Hangzhou – or even just across the ditch, if you prefer. 

From November 6, the non-stop link takes wing on the following schedule:

• MU712 departs Sydney each Monday and Friday at 3:10pm, touching down in Hangzhou’s Xiaoshan International Airport at 11pm.
• The reverse MU711 departs at 11:45pm on Tuesday and Saturday, arriving in Sydney at 12:15pm a day later.

While the triangular service via Auckland adheres to the below:

• MU731 sees wheels up from Hangzhou every Sunday and Thursday at 3:45pm, with wheels down in Auckland at 9:40am the next day (Monday and Friday, respectively). It then continues to Sydney as MU712 at 11:40am, landing at 1:10pm.
• MU711 from Sydney to Auckland departs each Wednesday and Sunday at 2:15pm, landing in Auckland at 7:30pm, before continuing to Hangzhou as MU732 at 11:45pm. Touchdown in Hangzhou is at 6:45am the next day.

China Eastern's A330 has six-across seating in business class.

Though not the most straightforward way of getting to China, the route can be booked as a trans-Tasman crossing between Sydney and Auckland, making it a good option for those seeking lie-flat comfort for a few hours. 

In other news, China Eastern says the rollout of its new WiFi service will be complete across all 100 of its twin-aisle aircraft by the end of March, with passengers able to select standard and premium plans, and Eastern Miles loyalty members enjoying discounted rates.

China Eastern also flies daily from Sydney to Shanghai on its Airbus A350, in addition to thrice-weekly flights to Wuhan and Nanjing on the Airbus A330. Flights between Sydney and Jinan also begin on November 28. 

A long-running partnership existed between Qantas and China Eastern for the past eight years. However this has recently come to an end following a decision by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) to deny a renewal of their alliance.

At the time, the watchdog noted “the public benefits from the coordination” between the two would not “outweigh the harm to competition”, as Qantas and China Eastern were the sole operators between Sydney and Shanghai – a route the Red Roo has just resumed.