Hainan Airlines revealed this week that it will deploy its flagship Boeing 787 Dreamliner aircraft on the Beijing-Manchester route.

The Chinese carrier will start operating its flagship aircraft on the long-haul route from 1 May 2017, in place of an Airbus A330, at the same time as increasing the frequency of its flights from four to five per week.

“We are very excited to see our very first Dreamliner landing at Manchester Airport from the 1st of May. Having announced our increased frequency, it makes perfect sense to operate the Manchester route with our flagship aircraft,” said Loic Gao, general manager for Hainan Airlines in Manchester.

Hainan Airlines’ 787 aircraft comes equipped with 36 flat-bed seats in business class and 177 seats in economy. This means that the carrier will offer more than 1,000 seats in each direction on the route every week.