Emirates has deepened its presence in China with a new partnership that promises wider domestic connectivity for international travelers. A freshly inked interline agreement with Hangzhou-based Loong Air opens access to dozens of additional Chinese cities beyond Emirates’ existing mainland gateways, offering smoother itineraries, simplified ticketing and greater choice for both leisure and business passengers flying into one of the world’s fastest growing aviation markets.
A Strategic Move to Widen Emirates’ Footprint in China
The agreement between Emirates and Loong Air, announced in mid-February 2026, comes at a moment when demand for travel to and within China is rebounding and international carriers are racing to rebuild networks. For Emirates, which has steadily restored and expanded its Chinese operations since travel restrictions eased, partnering with a domestic carrier is a logical next step in anchoring its long haul hub-and-spoke model more firmly in East Asia.
Loong Air, headquartered in Hangzhou, operates a dense domestic network that reaches into secondary and emerging cities well beyond the country’s main coastal gateways. By tapping into this network, Emirates gains access to 22 additional destinations that it does not serve directly, significantly increasing its virtual footprint across multiple Chinese regions without deploying extra widebody aircraft or adding new standalone routes.
The tie-up underscores how international airlines are increasingly relying on interline and codeshare agreements in China rather than attempting to build large standalone domestic operations. For passengers, this behind-the-scenes cooperation translates into more options when planning complex itineraries that combine a long haul international leg with multiple stops inside China.
How the New Interline Agreement Works in Practice
Under the new arrangement, Emirates passengers can book itineraries that combine an Emirates long haul flight with onward domestic sectors operated by Loong Air, all issued on a single ticket. Travel is routed through three key gateways in Greater China: Hangzhou and Shenzhen on the mainland, as well as Hong Kong. From these hubs, travelers can connect seamlessly to Loong Air’s network of inland and regional destinations.
One of the main advantages is the streamlined travel experience. With a single fare and unified ticketing, passengers avoid the need to purchase separate domestic tickets, juggle multiple itineraries or recheck baggage at transfer points. Emirates and Loong Air have coordinated a common baggage policy and consistent fare conditions across the combined journey, minimizing the risk of misaligned rules that can complicate trip planning or disrupt connections.
The partnership is structured as an interline agreement rather than a full codeshare, which means that while the flights appear together in booking engines and can be combined on one ticket, Loong Air sectors typically retain their own flight numbers. For most travelers, this distinction is largely invisible. What they will notice is the ability to search, book and travel across both airlines’ networks as if they formed a single, integrated system, especially when using travel agents or global distribution systems.
New Cities Within Reach for International Travelers
The headline feature of the Emirates Loong Air partnership is access to 22 additional destinations across China, many of them important regional hubs that are not yet widely served by foreign carriers. Among the cities highlighted by the airlines are Zhengzhou in central China, Changchun in the northeast, Haikou on tropical Hainan Island, Xiangyang in Hubei province and Dazhou in Sichuan.
For global travelers planning business trips, factory visits or trade events across China’s interior, these added points are particularly significant. Historically, reaching many of these cities from overseas has required multiple separate bookings or overnight stops in primary hubs such as Beijing, Shanghai or Guangzhou. The new interline flows via Hangzhou, Shenzhen and Hong Kong aim to cut down travel time and friction by offering same-day or tightly coordinated connections.
Leisure travelers also stand to benefit. Haikou, for instance, is a gateway to Hainan, which Beijing has been positioning as a major tourism and duty free shopping destination. Easier access via a single-ticket journey from cities across Emirates’ global network could help funnel more Middle Eastern, European and African tourists into emerging Chinese holiday regions that sit beyond the traditional Beijing Shanghai Xi’an triangle.
Why Hangzhou, Shenzhen and Hong Kong Matter as Hubs
The choice of Hangzhou, Shenzhen and Hong Kong as the core transfer points for the new partnership is not accidental. Each of these cities plays a distinct role in China’s economic geography and in Emirates’ own route strategy, providing a strong foundation for both passenger demand and efficient scheduling.
Hangzhou, added by Emirates as a new gateway in 2025, anchors the network in the dynamic Yangtze River Delta region, home to technology giants, advanced manufacturing clusters and a rapidly growing middle class. Emirates operates daily Boeing 777 flights between Dubai and Hangzhou, and has aligned premium offerings such as chauffeur service and upgraded cabins to appeal to business travelers shuttling between this high tech corridor and global financial centers.
Shenzhen, meanwhile, is at the heart of the Pearl River Delta, often referred to as China’s hardware and innovation capital. Its proximity to the manufacturing belts of Guangdong province and its position within the Greater Bay Area make it a natural hub for distributing passengers across southern China. By connecting Emirates’ direct Dubai Shenzhen service with Loong Air’s domestic operations, the partnership effectively creates a bridge between global long haul traffic and the sprawling industrial cities lining the coast and interior.
Hong Kong complements these mainland hubs by serving as an established international transfer point with mature infrastructure and strong demand from corporate, financial and premium leisure markets. For some itineraries, particularly those involving multiple stops or complex ticketing, routing via Hong Kong may offer schedule advantages or smoother connections, even when the final destination lies inside mainland China.
Fitting Into Emirates’ Broader China and Asia Strategy
The Loong Air agreement is the latest in a series of moves by Emirates to consolidate and expand its presence in China after a period of disruption and gradual recovery. The airline now operates 49 weekly flights to five major Chinese cities Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shenzhen and Hangzhou using a mix of Airbus A380, Airbus A350 and Boeing 777 aircraft. Capacity has been restored steadily, including the return of the double deck A380 on Shanghai routes and the introduction of Premium Economy cabins on selected Chinese services.
Beyond its own metal, Emirates has built a web of partnerships across the Chinese market with carriers such as Air China, China Southern Airlines and Sichuan Airlines. These arrangements already allow the Dubai based airline to offer access to more than 110 points across the country. The addition of Loong Air brings an important new regional partner into that ecosystem, reinforcing Emirates’ strategy of combining a relatively lean set of trunk routes with dense domestic feed provided by local airlines.
This approach dovetails with a broader push across East and Southeast Asia, where Emirates has launched or announced services to destinations including Shenzhen, Hangzhou, Da Nang and Siem Reap, and has upgraded aircraft and onboard products to meet rising demand. By anchoring capacity in key economic corridors and stitching them together with local partners, the airline aims to extend Dubai’s role as a global connector between Asia, the Middle East, Europe, Africa and beyond.
What Travelers Need to Know Before Booking
For passengers considering itineraries that combine Emirates and Loong Air, there are several practical points to keep in mind. First, the ability to book interconnected itineraries is available through Emirates’ own channels as well as travel agents and global distribution systems. Customers can search for end to end journeys from their origin city to a final destination in China and see options that automatically incorporate the appropriate Loong Air segments where available.
Because the agreement is interline based, travelers should pay close attention to how flight numbers and operating carriers are displayed during the booking process. While the itinerary will be ticketed under a single fare and one Emirates booking reference, individual sectors within China will show Loong Air as the operating airline. Airport signage, onboard services and cabin layouts on those sectors will follow Loong Air standards, which can differ from Emirates’ long haul product.
Baggage handling is designed to be straightforward: in most cases, travelers will be able to check bags through from their origin to final destination, subject to standard security and customs procedures at the first point of entry into China. A unified baggage policy under the interline agreement means weight and piece allowances are harmonized, reducing the risk of unexpected excess fees when transferring from a long haul Emirates flight to a domestic Loong Air connection.
Travelers should also factor in visa and entry requirements for China and for any intermediate transit points such as Hong Kong. While the new partnership improves connectivity, it does not alter immigration rules, which continue to depend on nationality, length of stay and specific city entry policies. Given that regulations have evolved frequently in recent years, checking the latest official guidance before departure remains essential.
Competition and Collaboration in China’s Aviation Market
The Emirates Loong Air partnership lands in a competitive landscape where other Gulf and international carriers are also expanding their Chinese ties. Airlines such as Qatar Airways and Etihad Airways have strengthened codeshare and strategic partnerships with major Chinese carriers, while European and Asian airlines are rebuilding pre disruption networks and negotiating fresh cooperation agreements.
In this environment, link ups with regional airlines like Loong Air serve multiple strategic goals. They allow global carriers to offer more comprehensive coverage across China without the cost and regulatory complexity of launching dozens of new routes. They also help Chinese domestic airlines feed high yielding long haul traffic to their partners’ global hubs, supporting load factors and revenue at a time when capacity is still normalizing.
For Emirates, which already counts more than 20 airline and air rail codeshare partners worldwide, the move reinforces a long running strategy of building connectivity through alliances as well as its own network growth. From a traveler’s perspective, the competition among carriers to secure strong Chinese partnerships may result in more choice, better frequencies and, in some markets, sharper pricing as airlines vie for a share of resurgent demand.
What This Means for Business and Tourism Flows
Beyond the operational details, the Emirates Loong Air agreement carries broader implications for trade and tourism between China, the Middle East and the wider world. Dubai has positioned itself as a key gateway for Chinese goods, investment and visitors heading to markets across Africa, Europe and South Asia. Adding deeper connectivity into China’s interior cities will make it easier for exporters, investors and entrepreneurs based in those regions to use Dubai as a springboard for international expansion.
Conversely, travelers from the Gulf, Europe and Africa gain smoother access to Chinese manufacturing clusters, technology hubs and tourism destinations that were previously harder to reach on a single, integrated ticket. This could support everything from factory sourcing trips and logistics planning to cultural exchange programs and group tours that rely on predictable, manageable itineraries.
As aviation demand continues to recover, partnerships like that of Emirates and Loong Air are likely to play a growing role in shaping how passengers move across continents. For travelers planning new journeys into China over the coming months, the key takeaway is simple: more routes, more cities and a more seamless experience are coming online, backed by a strategic alignment between a major global carrier and a rising regional airline at the heart of one of China’s most dynamic regions.