China's civil aviation authority said here on Friday 644 regular flights were operated weekly between China and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) by the end of August this year.

The General Administration of Civil Aviation said the 644 flights, operated by nine Chinese airlines and 16 airlines of ASEAN, including 563 passenger flights and 81 cargo flights.

These flights were operated between 22 Chinese cities and 22 cities in ASEAN, according to the first two-day meeting on air transportation arrangement between China and ASEAN , which ended here on Friday.

The demand for aviation cooperation between China and ASEAN has been on the rise with the fast economic growth of China-ASEAN Free Trade Area, said the administration.

Over the past years, bilateral trade grew on average 38.9 percent annually. In 2005, bilateral trade volume reached more than US$130.3 billion, up 23 percent from 2004.

In the first four months of this year, the trade volume between China and ASEAN totaled US$47 billion, a year on year increase of 22 percent. The figure is expected to climb to 200 billion dollars this year.

China now has direct flights to all the 10 ASEAN member nations.

(Xinhua News Agency October 13, 2006)