An airline from Qingdao to Frankfurt has been opened on Tuesday, which becomes the first direct flight route to Europe in Shandong province, according to the Qingdao Daily.

A plane of German ariline Lufthansa lands at Qingdao Liuting Airport, marking the opening of Qingdao-Frankfurt flight route. [Photo/dailyqd.com]

Earlier, Europe-bound passengers of Qingdao and Shandong had to transfer flight in Shenyang, Liaoning province. Now with the opening of the direct Qingdao-Frankfurt air route, the travelling time will be cut by about three hours.

Passengers from Qingdao and surrounding areas can set off directly from Qingdao to Europe by this route in from now on. The flight will be flown by an Air Bus A340-300 wide-body aircraft operated the Lufthansa German Airlines.

Three round trip flights are available per week between Qingdao and Frankfurt: Frankfurt to Qingdao flights on Monday, Wednesday and Friday (local time: 5:45pm---10:40am); Qingdao to Frankfurt flights on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday (local time: 12:45am---6:30pm).

"Compared with previous transfer flight, departure time for this non-stop flight is in the day time," said Liu Qing, the manager of International Passenger Office in Qingdao International Airport. He added that flight time has also been greatly reduced by three hours due to shorter distance.

The direct route will act as a regional airline hub which will also facilitate the travel for people from other provinces. Yang Chen, the manager of marketing development in Qingdao International Airport said that in addition to many metropolitan cities, many people will now choose to travel Europe through Qingdao, which will enhance the mutual development of the city in the fields of economy, tourism and culture.

Qingdao airport also said it is cooperating with well-known airlines to open more direct routes to major cities around the world such as San Francisco, Melbourne and Vancouver.