Goal achieved: Barcelona recovers the longed-for direct connection with Shanghai. After four years without non-stop flights between the Catalan capital and the Asian city, Air China has resumed operating the route that connects them via a direct flight. Approximately 14 hours are needed to get from El Prat Airport to China's most populous city and one of the world's largest metropolises.
With flights on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays, the route adds a new direct connection between Barcelona and China, where one can already fly non-stop from the Catalan capital to Beijing, daily also with Air China, and to Shenzhen, China's technology industry hub, which has a connection from Barcelona three times a week with Shenzhen Airlines.
Recovering direct flights with Shanghai was one of the city's main objectives regarding its intercontinental connection. In fact, the Barcelona Air Route Development Committee (CDRA) had it set among its priorities, which also include cities like Lima, whose direct route has not yet been recovered since COVID, and Tokyo, which to date has not had a non-stop flight from the city.
Shanghai is the primary destination for air exports from El PratFormed by the Generalitat, the Barcelona City Council, Aena, and the Chamber of Commerce, the CDRA focuses on gaining new routes, such asthat of Kuwait Citypremiered in October, and also in recovering routes lost with the pandemic and that have not been resumed, as was until now the case of Shanghai, and it was alsothat of Hong Kong, recovered in January.
The direct connection with Shanghai will allow "to make even closer" the relationship between both cities, according to the Chinese consul in Barcelona, Zhu Jingyang, and it will do so both economically and culturally. And it is that "air connections are not only a means of transport, but they are true bridges that unite communities and generate economic opportunities," defended the president of the CDRA and secretary of Mobility of the Generalitat, Marc Sanglas.
In the case of Barcelona and Shanghai, this close relationship has accumulated more than a quarter of a century of trajectory, according to the deputy mayor of Economy of the Barcelona City Council, Jordi Valls, who highlighted the importance of El Prat adding new direct intercontinental flights: beyond tourism, they represent "a necessity in economic and technological terms." What's more: Shanghai is the first destination for exports by air from El Prat, a fact that was already "reason enough" to have recovered the route, according to the vice president of the Cambra de Barcelona, Miquel Martí.
The reincorporation of the direct route to Shanghai is part of the gradual expansion that El Prat is experiencing in its connections with Asia, which also includes forecasts such as that of Singapore Airlines, which has already announced that it will increase direct flights between Barcelona and Singapore for next summer, going from two weekly flights to five.
The new direct connections and increased frequencies will contribute to enlarging El Prat's figures, which in November exceeded pre-pandemic figures for the first time. Since then, it has been registering continuous records, in a 2024 that is shaping up to be the best year to date for the Barcelona airport.