Executives of Hainan Airlines and guests to the inaugurate ceremony cut ribbons to celebrate the new route on Monday. From left: Tan Po, deputy manager of HR department (branding center), Port of Seattle Commissioner John Creighton, Director of Airport Operations at Port of Seattle Mike Ehl, Li Xiang, manager of international business division at Hainan Airlines, ?Executive Director at Washington State China Relations Council Kristi Heim, Zhou Yingli, general manager of Hainan Airlines Seattle office, Joel Chusid, executive director of Hainan Airlines USA. By YU DENG / CHINA DAILY

Hainan Airlines launched a new direct route between Seattle-Tacoma International Airport and Shanghai-Pudong on Monday.

A ceremony to celebrate the new route was held at the airport, with executives from the Port of Seattle, the airline and the China Relations Council of Washington taking part.

The new route will operate on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays with a two class Airbus A330-200 aircraft. The outbound flight will depart Shanghai at 1:15 pm, arriving in Seattle at 9:35 am the same day. The return flight will depart Seattle at midday and arrive in Shanghai at 4:30 pm the following afternoon.

Flight times are 13 hours 30 minutes westbound and 11 hours 20 minutes eastbound.

Hainan first launched US service in 2008 with non-stop flights between Seattle and Beijing. Hainan opened service between Silicon Valley and Beijing on June 15, between Boston and Shanghai on June 20.

The Seattle-Shanghai route is the third direct route to connect US and China, as part of the airline's large-scale expansion of its service in North America. Hainan also currently operates daily non-stop service between Beijing and Boston and Beijing and Chicago.

"Since we began our Beijing-Seattle route, hundreds of thousands of people have experienced the award-winning service and elite experience Hainan Airlines provides our travelers," said Hou Wei, vice-president of Hainan.

"With expanding trade, stronger bilateral ties, and now reciprocal 10-year visas between China and the United States, this market is continuing to grow, and Hainan is making a long-term commitment to our customers in China and the US," Hou added.

Hainan Airlines, founded in 1993, has a relatively young fleet composed mainly of Boeing 737s, 787s and Airbus 330s configured for both passenger and cargo flights.