Beijing-Busan/Zurich: Hainan Airlines is offering a discount on roundtrip flights from Beijing to Busan to mark its one-year opening of the route. The offer coincides with the 2012 World Expo, which runs until Aug 12 in Yeosu, South Korea.

The discount continues through Sept 20: a roundtrip flight costs 1,000 yuan ($157) for economy class and 2,900 yuan for business class. A bigger discount will be given for advance bookings.

The airline also opened a new direct flight from Beijing to Zurich, Switzerland, on May 31, with a roundtrip costing 2,990 yuan for economy class. The flight departs from Beijing at 1:50 am Beijing time every Tue, Thu and Sun, and arrives at Zurich at 6:30 am local time. The plane returns to Beijing six hours later at 12:20 am Zurich time and arrives at Beijing at 5:20 am the following day. More information on www.hnair.com.

New Thai carrier: Thai Airways International has confirmed that its new business division will launch services in July 2012 under the Thai Smile Air brand. The start-up carrier has been tentatively dubbed Thai Wings since the national carrier first revealed its plans to establish the venture earlier this year. The airline will be positioned as a low-to-medium-cost carrier. Thai Smile Air will initially serve domestic destinations before adding international flights in 2013 to Southeast Asia, China and India.

China Daily

(China Daily 07/01/2012 page18)