A direct air route linking New York and east China's Fuzhou City will be launched on Feb. 15 by China's Xiamen Airlines, shortening the journey between the two cities by five and a half hours.

With a total of 287 seats on board, the round-trip flights will be conducted by a Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner. It will depart from Fuzhou at 8:45 a.m. Beijing time on Mondays, Wednesdays and Saturdays. Flight departs New York JFK Airport at 12:25 p.m. local time.

The 14,000-km air route will be the first direct flight between Fujian Province and the United States, with an expected one-way flight time of around 14.5 hours. Previously it took at least 20 hours to fly from New York to Fujian.

The service is launched to offer convenience for people to visit their hometowns in Fujian Province. Classic Fuzhou cuisine and Fujian tea will be served on board.

Business class seats on the flight are capable of reclining into a flat 2-meter bed allowing passengers a comfortable sleep. For economy class, the front and rear seats reach 84cm allowing plenty of leg room for passengers.

Fuzhou, capital city of Fujian Province, is the hometown of many Chinese Americans. Statistics show that more than 2 million people living in the United States are from Fuzhou. Among them, about 650,000 are living in New York.

Founded in 1984, Xiamen Airlines now has the largest all-Boeing fleet in China with 171 aircraft. It has kept 30 years of profitability and ranks first in the global airline financial rating among all Chinese airlines.

"We only focus our business in the airline industry and do not blindly wander into other industries markets," CEO Zhao Dong said.

In 2016 Xiamen Airlines won the China Quality Award, the highest award given in the field of quality management in China, comparable to the American Baldrige National Quality Award.

A SkyTeam Airline Alliance member, Xiamen Airlines operates routes from Fujian to Sydney, Melbourne, Seattle and 6 additional intercontinental routes and makes 26 million passenger trips every year.

Contributed by Xiamen Airlines