Long an afterthought for international travelers, San Jose's airport on Tuesday scored a moderate boost as it announced its first flights to China.
Hainan Airlines will operate nonstop Boeing 787 Dreamliner service between Mineta San Jose International Airport (SJC/KSJC) and Beijing five days per week starting June 15. It is just the third outside country served at the airport, after Mexico and Japan.
Bay Area residents heading to China could already fly there from San Francisco International Airport, which has about 95 percent of the region's international flights. But with the strong ties between Silicon Valley and China, industry officials think there is demand for more service. An estimated 220,000 people in Silicon Valley are of Chinese descent, and more than 500 local companies have offices in China.
"Travelers will no longer have to fool around on the freeway to San Francisco to get between China and Silicon Valley," said Joel Chusid, Hainan's executive director in the United States.
Business leaders, city officials and seven of the 11 City Council members gathered at a news conference at the airport Tuesday to announce the news. It was a rare addition of high-profile service to the airport that continues to slink in third place for local passenger volume behind Oakland International Airport and SFO.
San Jose airport is growing at a faster rate than its Bay Area competitors, however, and saw its passenger count increase 6.9 percent last year to 9.4 million. Oakland airport grew 6.1 percent to 10.3 million passengers while SFO increased 4.8 percent to a record 47.2 million travelers.
San Jose airport director Kim Becker Aguirre said the new flights to China are part of the hub's "resurrection." She cited the airport's "fantastic weather" and its on-time reliability, a convenience lacking at fog-shrouded SFO.
"They know they're going to be on time," Aguirre said.
Still, when All Nippon Airways announced it would start flying between San Jose and Tokyo in 2013, airport officials predicted a slew of new flights to Asia and Europe, and despite the local economic boom, that hasn't happened. The airport badly needs more service as the city looks to pay down debt from a $1.3 billion renovation that was completed in 2010. A CEO task force led by the Silicon Valley Leadership Group is targeting Seoul, London and Frankfurt flights next.
The announcement was expected after Hainan filed a request to operate the service last month.
But it had been awaiting approval from federal regulators.
The 213-seat flights to Beijing Capital International Airport will operate on Monday, Wednesday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday and last between 11½ to 12½ hours depending on the direction. Because of the time difference, travelers heading back to San Jose will actually land about three hours earlier than when they took off.
Business travelers will have extra amenities that include his-and-her pajamas and free limo service. The cost of the flights wasn't disclosed and bookings are not yet available.
(Mike Rosenberg - Sa Jose Mercury News)
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