Air China Beijing-Nice direct flights inaugurated at France's Nice airport

A new direct flight linking French southern coastal city Nice with Chinese capital Beijing, was inaugurated Friday at Nice Cote d'Azur Airport, with an official ceremony.

The new direct flight is operated by Air China three times a week on Wednesday, Friday and Sunday with an Airbus A330-200 aircraft, which has a capacity of 227 seats.

During the inauguration ceremony, Yu Jinsong, Minister-Counselor of Chinese Embassy in France, said that today the launch of new direct flight Beijing-Nice, first direct air link that connects China to a French city other than Paris, marks the continuous deepening of Sino-French cooperation in the air transport market.

"This inaugural flight creates new facilities and offers new choices to Chinese tourists wishing to go to France, and opens up new opportunities for exchanges and cooperation between China and the South of France," she continued, "I sincerely hope this flight linking Beijing and Nice will be a bridge that brings closer the people fo our two countries."

According to Christian Estrosi, mayor of Nice, "in recent years, the number of Chinese tourists traveling to southern France has increased year by year, and cities such as Nice have increasingly become the choice of destination for Chinese tourists to France. The newly opened direct flights will promote the development of bilateral relations between China and France, especially for tourism and cultural exchanges and cooperation."

Air China, opened 45 years ago, direct flights between Beijing and Paris.