The Yinchuan-Hong Kong direct flight, operated by China Eastern Airlines, will be officially launched on September 2, according to the Ningxia Tourism Bureau on July 31. The trial run will last for two months.

The Airbus-320 with a capacity of 156 passengers will undertake the round-trip flight every Monday and Friday starting on September 2, said Fan Minxia, general manager of the China Eastern Airlines Yinchuan Branch. The flight will leave Yinchuan for Hong Kong at 8:30 or 9 a.m., and departure time from Hong Kong is scheduled to be around 1 and 1:30 p.m., she added. Flight time is set to be 3.5 hours.

The number of tourists from Hong Kong has surged over the past few years and a direct flight will greatly help promote this rising trend, said Yang Penggang, an official from the Ningxia Tourism Bureau.