China Southern Airlines will begin flying between London Heathrow and Guangzhou on 6 June, after eight years of talks.
The new route, which will operate three times a week from Terminal 4, will be the first between the UK and Guangzhou, China’s third largest city.
The airline had to wait several years for suitable take-off and landing slots to become available from other airlines because Heathrow is full, operating at 99.2% of its permitted capacity.
"The UK has missed out on trade, jobs and economic growth because of the Government’s cap on flights at the UK’s only hub," said Heathrow operator BAA.
"In the meantime the airline has flown to Paris, giving French companies an eight-year head start in building new trade links with China. Even now, Paris will have four times as many flights to Guangzhou than the UK."
Meanwhile, Paris and other European hubs have also been busy strengthening links with key Chinese cities.
"Other airlines from major emerging economies would like to add new routes at Heathrow, but are unable to do so because of a lack of take-off and landing slots," said BAA.
It pointed to a recent report by Frontier Economics which claims there are 21 emerging market destinations with daily flights from Continental European hubs but not from Heathrow, estimated to be costing the UK economy £1.2bn a year in lost trade.
BAA CEO Colin Matthews added: "The centre of gravity in the world economy is shifting and Britain should be forging new links with economies like China. Instead a lack of hub airport capacity is causing us to fall further behind the rest of Europe."
By Bev Fearis
