China’s
Xiamen Air launched service to Seattle on Monday.
The
route, from Xiamen to Shenzhen and then onto Seattle, is Xiamen Air’s first
service to the U.S. It’s also the first direct service between the U.S. and
Shenzhen, a southeast China coastal city of nearly 11 million people that is
located just a dozen miles from Hong Kong.
The
city of Xiamen, where the flight originates, is located approximately 400 miles
northeast of Shenzhen along the Taiwan Strait.
Xiamen
Air is offering the flight on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. The carrier is
one of 17 members of the SkyTeam alliance. It has become the fifth Chinese
airline that flies to the U.S.