A new Sino-Russian air route has opened to cater for the increasing demand of Chinese tourists to Russia.
An airliner will depart from Harbin, capital of northeast China's Heilongjiang Province, and land at Vladivostok in Russia, via the province's Mudanjiang City, said sources from the General Administration of Civil Aviation of China.
The MD-82 airplane can carry 147 passengers. It takes 19 hours to travel from Harbin to Vladivostok by train, but by air the travel time is only one hour.
Increasing numbers of Chinese people are traveling abroad with the improvement of their living conditions. The Chinese government will further loosen the restrictions on overseas travel in the future, according to an official from the China National Tourism Administration.
(Eastday.com 10/04/2000)
