China Eastern Airlines have today commenced their new Shanghai to Brisbane service. This is the first service in the Queensland region and 3rd in Australia for the airline.

The new route will bring an additional 18,000 Chinese visitors per year. The Chinese market is the second largest for Brisbane; the airport has experienced a 19 percent growth this year and estimates the number will rapidly rise.

MU715/6 will be operated by an A330-200 on the route that houses 24 angled flat business class seats configured at 2-2-2 and 220 economy seats in a 2-4-2 configuration. MU715 will depart Shanghai at 9:35 pm local time and arrive into Brisbane at 10:05 local time. MU716 departs Brisbane at 12:05 pm local time and arrive at Shanghai’s Pudong International airport at 8:00 pm local time.

Both the airline and airport put on an inaugural ceremony and I was lucky enough to attend. Here are some photos of the event:

The service will operate every Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday although the airline did they would like to go daily in the future.

With the partnership with Qantas, passengers traveling on the China Eastern service will be able to earn Qantas points and status credits.

The event was well put together and was great to photograph.