Airport Check-in: Seattle-Beijing trips begin; Aloft in Montreal

— -- The Seattle-Tacoma area, which has a large Asian population, finally has non-stop flight service to China.

Starting Monday, Hainan Airlines begins flying to Beijing four times a week from Seattle-Tacoma International: Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays. It's the first U.S. city for Hainan, which is China's fourth-largest carrier and the largest non-government-owned airline.

"It's very important to the state of Washington. China is (its) No. 1 trade partner," says Hainan's North America general manager Joel Chusid, citing local companies with a heavy presence in China, including Starbucks, Microsoft and Boeing. "There's a lot of Asian influence in Seattle."

SeaTac's discussions with Hainan began about four years ago. But the service launch date was delayed in part to the airline's desire to operate the route using Boeing's 787 Dreamliner, Chusid says.

With Boeing's delay in delivering the new jet, Hainan chose to fly with Airbus A330s for now. Hainan's business class will feature lie-flat seats with 74-inch pitch.

Hainan hopes to expand to other North American cities, and has filed paperwork with Chinese officials to launch service to Boston, Chicago, Newark and Toronto.

But the airline has not yet begun the process for the necessary approval from U.S. and Canadian regulators, Chusid says.

MONTREAL

Hotel will be part of a 70-property chain

Aloft, a new midscale hotel brand launched by Starwood Hotels in 2005, opened its first property last week, choosing Montreal-Trudeau International as its inaugural site.

Aloft will be similar in style but generally cheaper than the W Hotel, which is also owned by Starwood. Rooms feature 9-foot ceilings in a loft-style design. The hotel also offers free Wi-Fi and a panel in each room that allows guests to connect multiple electronic gadgets and link them to a flat-panel TV.

Located at the entrance to the airport, the hotel will run free shuttle service to the terminals. Its lobby kiosks will also allow passengers to print boarding passes for several airlines.