Among China’s long-haul airlines that serve the U.S., the story of Sichuan Airlines has been a wild one. The Chengdu-based carrier has only ever served one U.S. destination, Los Angeles, and it’s served L.A. with two different aircraft, from two different airports, via two different routings, during two different time periods, in two different liveries.
Sichuan Airlines begin one-stop service to the U.S. in 2016 from Chengdu’s Shuangliu International Airport via Hangzhou, using Airbus A330-200 and then A350-900 aircraft painted in the same livery as the rest of the airline’s all-Airbus fleet. This service continued until 2020, when the route was dropped like so many other services from the U.S. to China (ATL-PVG, ORD-PEK, SFO-CTU, etc.). When Sichuan Airlines returned to Los Angeles in 2024, the stop in Hangzhou was dropped, while the flights to L.A. now departed from the new Tianfu International Airport, opened in 2021. The aircraft had changed in a respect, too, with the A350s sporting an all-new Panda-themed livery to highlight Sichuan Province’s status as the home of the Giant Panda. Around a week ago, I got to see B-325J, the sister ship of B-301D, which was added in 26.1, arriving at LAX from Chengdu and added it to my itinerary. I was stoked to finally be able to fly this route in Infinite Flight and I hope y’all enjoy this trip report as much as I enjoyed the flight!
Server: Solo
Airline: Sichuan Airlines
Aircraft: Airbus A350-900
Origin: Chengdu Tianfu International Airport, Jianyang, China (TFU)
Destination: Los Angeles International Airport, Los Angeles, California (LAX)
Flight Number: 3U3838
Route: ZUTF-KLAX
Seat: 6A (Business)
Time En Route: 12 Hours 25 Minutes
Getting ready to board at Gate 118 at Tianfu. After spending the afternoon and evening watching traffic at Chengdu’s primary international airport, we’re ready to go back to the West Coast. In another first for us, this is going to be our first-ever flight on Sichuan Airlines.
Leaving the T1 ramp as we taxi to the runway. The interior on this airplane is something else. Everything onboard is decorated with Panda motifs, all the way down to seemingly-mundane items like the airsickness bags. The only other airlime we know of that’s this invested in an animal is Qantas, and that’s because the airline’s logo is a kangaroo. Sichuan Airlines is really capitalizing on the eponymous province being the home of the Giant Panda. However, it still seems like a fairly solid product, potential overabundances of panda logos aside.
Taking off from Tianfu on Runway 19. We’re looking at an en route time of just under 12 and a half hours tonight, with some minor turbulence over the North Pacific towards the second half of the flight. Should be mostly smooth though, which should make relaxing on this trip easy.
Climbing by TFU as we head northeast. Despite Chengdu being one of the fastest-growing cities in China, Sichuan Province is still mostly rural, with only the lights of villages dotting the countryside around the airport. Off in the distance, the glow of the lights of Chengdu proper act as a beacon to arriving flights.
Getting ready to fall asleep over Anhui Province at our cruising altitude of 33,100 feet. China uses metric cruising altitudes, which result in some pretty unusual altitudes for those used to feel. As for our experience with Sichuan Airlines so far, it’s shaping up to be a good one. We had a decent dinner service, which was served to us in an extended short time. We’ve got our seat reclined all the way to the fully-flat position and are ready for some shut-eye. The provided blanket is surprisingly silky, but the pillow feels more like one from a couch than a bed. Ah well, if it works, it works.
Somewhere over the North Pacific with a few hours to go in our flight. We slept right through the breakfast service, so we’re going to have to wait until we get to LAX to eat. Sleeping was decent, but it could’ve been more comfortable. Waking up and seeing the panda logos was pleasing, though. Now we’re watching one of the 12 available English titles on the IFE system to pass the time until we reach Los Angeles.
Final descent over Downtown Los Angeles with the Hollywood Sign in the background. Traffic below us on the 10, 101, and 110 is predictably snarled this evening. Fingers crossed the 405 isn’t like that heading into the Valley!
Evening arrival on Runway 24R shortly before the Marine Layer starts to roll in and blanket the airport. It’s a balmy 73 degrees on the ground here at LAX, although the temperature will drop as the fog arrives. Right now, we’re enjoying the sunset as we decelerate and slow down to exit the runway.
Taxiing to the south side of the Tom Bradley International Terminal by a pretty full north end, which has all three gates on this side occupied by a Level A330-200, a Virgin Atlantic 787-9, and a Delta Air Lines A350-900. Our arrival here marks the start of the evening Asian heavy metal rush, as flights from Taiwan, China, Hong Kong, the Philippines, and Singapore are scheduled to arrive over the next few hours. While taxi times at this time of evening can be pretty long, we were lucky enough to have a largely uninterrupted one from the runway turn-off to the terminal.
Parked and disembarked at Gate 152 as the Sun sinks in the western sky. Sichuan Airlines was one of those unknowns for us, as it has only ever flown into one destination in the U.S. and on and off at that. We weren’t expecting luxury, but neither were we expecting ultra-low-cost service and seating. What we got was rather spartan by long-haul business class standards, albeit alleviated with some endearing decor, but it was presented without trying to overhype itself. The food was decent, even if an explanation of exactly what it was with a menu would’ve been appreciated, the seat was reasonably comfy, and, while the English-language movie options were limited, they were all titles we enjoyed, at least on this flight. Honestly, our main takeaway from this is that Sichuan Airlines is like JetBlue if it was Chinese and started flying A350s across the Pacific: fairly no-frills, but with enough amenities to leave us walking away satisfied. We’ll keep 3U in mind for future trips to China for sure.
