Philippine Airlines (PAL) completed its maiden voyage into western China on Friday with a flight from Manila to Chongqing Municipality.

The country's flagship carrier has begun to offer twice-weekly flights to the southwestern city via an Airbus A320 on Tuesday and Friday. A round-trip ticket for the 3.5-hour flight is around 1,400 yuan (197 US dollars), a PAL official said.

Previously, passengers had to transfer at Hong Kong if they were traveling to the city from the Philippine capital.

Starting on Tuesday, the carrier will also begin offering flights to neighboring Chengdu with a similar frequency. On May 1, it will launch five weekly flights to the Macao Special Administrative Region.

The new routes will boost PAL's China service to 23 flights weekly to five destinations on the mainland. It currently flies to Beijing, Shanghai and Xiamen, plus Hong Kong, according to the company.

(Xinhua News Agency March 15, 2008)