Probably the livery I was most hyped for in 24.4 was the China Eastern Airlines 777-300ER, completing the Chinese 777 lineup and allowing for multiple new realistic routes to be opened up to locations such as Los Angeles, Amsterdam, Toronto, Paris, New York City, and San Francisco. For its part, China’s second-largest airline by passenger traffic has flown to San Francisco thrice, first in the 1990s with the MD-11, then from 2013 to 2020 with the A330-200 and later the 777-300ER, and from 2023 to the present with the 777-300ER, after a 3-year suspension due to the COVID-19 Pandemic and decreased traffic from China. Today, China Eastern flies daily across the Pacific between the two cities.
Server: Solo
Airline: China Eastern Airlines
Aircraft: Boeing 777-300ER
Origin: San Francisco International Airport, San Francisco, California (SFO)
Destination: Shanghai Pudong International Airport (PVG)
Flight Number: MU590
Route: KSFO-ZSPD
Seat: 11A (Business)
Time En Route: 13 Hours 37 Minutes
Getting ready to board our aircraft, a 10.6-year-old 777-300ER delivered in 2014. China Eastern was relatively late purchaser of the big Boeing twinjet, acquiring them to replace its stalwart but fuel-thirsty A340-600s which it used on transpacific routes and to the United States East Coast.
Our business class seat was located just in front of the massive GE90-115B turbofans, giving us a prime position to hear it increase in volume from silence to a low, barely restrained rumble on startup in the alley. I’d heard things about China Eastern, some good and some really not good. But from the first impressions, the seats seem quite good, even if they are a bit dated.
We’ve got a long taxi out for departure ahead of us
Rocketing out of SFO after a relatively short takeoff roll. Flight crew must’ve been using a higher than usual thrust setting.
Climbing out to the north over Point Reyes National Seashore
Cruising over the Sea of Japan after spending most of the flight asleep. It was actually pretty comfortable!
Dusk descent to our destination
Landing in Shanghai at twilight
Parked at the Satellite Concourse. Overall, I had a very favorable impression of the airline, which seems to have turned itself around, after this flight.
