Airport Check-in

0 Comments | USA TODAY, June, 2008 | by Roger Yu

SEATTLE

Non-stop flights to Beijing start today

The Seattle-Tacoma area, which has a large Asian population, finally has non-stop flight service to China.

Starting today, Hainan Airlines begins flying to Beijing four times a week from Seattle-Tacoma International: Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays. It's the first U.S. city for Hainan, which is China's fourth-largest carrier and the largest non-government-owned airline.

"It's very important to the state of Washington. China is (its) No.1 trade partner," says Hainan's North America general manager Joel Chusid, citing local companies with a heavy presence in China, including Starbucks, Microsoft and Boeing. "There's a lot of Asian influence in Seattle."

SeaTac's...