Travelers shuttling between China and Russia will have more choices as a new air route linking the two countries will be operational Thursday night.

China Southern Airlines has launched a new air route between Beijing and Irkutsk Thursday night, which will be the fifth air link between China and Russia operated by the airline company.

Boeing 757 airplanes of the China Southern Airlines will fly between the two cities on every Monday and Thursday, said sources with the airline company based in Guangzhou, capital of South China's Guangdong Province, on Thursday.

The flights are scheduled to depart Beijing at 11:20 p.m. (Beijing Time) and arrive in Irkutsk three hours and 15 minutes later. The aircraft leaves Irkutsk at 4:05 a.m. (local time) and arrives in Beijing after flying for three hours and 15 minutes.

Passengers can browse the website of China Southern Airlines at www.cs-air.com, or dial its telephone hotline 950333 to buy tickets.

Currently, China Southern Airlines operates four air routes between China and Russia, namely Urumqi-Moscow, Urumqi-Novosibirsk, Harbin-Khabarovsk and Harbin-Valdivostok.

(Xinhua News Agency April 21, 2006)