China Airlines, Taiwan’s largest airline, will provide regular direct flight between Weihai, Shandong province, and Taipei starting January 17, a bid to promote travel exchanges between the two sides.

The once-weekly flights will be serviced every Friday by Boeing 737-800 aircraft, which seat up to eight passengers in Business Class and 150 in Economy Class.

 The flight time will be around two hours and 40 minutes. According to Weihai municipal tourism bureau, visitors from Taiwan to Weihai totaled at 20,000 in 2013, an increase of 3.2 percent year on year. In the first half of last year, about 1,350 people from Weihai went to Taiwan.

 With the new route to Weihai, China Airlines will be operating 115 cross-strait flights to a total of 27 Chinese destinations.

 By Wang Qian