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Flight crew celebrates with a special cake at Budapest Ferenc Liszt International Airport in Budapest, Hungary, on Nov. 11, 2022. A passenger plane that took off from Shanghai Pudong International Airport landed at Budapest Ferenc Liszt International Airport here on Friday morning, resuming the direct passenger flights between the two cities operated by China Eastern Airlines. [Photo by Attila Volgyi/Xinhua]
BUDAPEST, Nov. 11 (Xinhua) -- A passenger plane that took off from Shanghai Pudong International Airport landed at Budapest Ferenc Liszt International Airport here on Friday morning, resuming the direct passenger flights between the two cities operated by China Eastern Airlines.
According to Qiu Jie, general manager of the Budapest office of China Eastern Airlines, the direct flights will be operated by a Boeing 787 passenger aircraft. It is scheduled to fly once a week on Fridays from Nov. 11, and twice a week on Wednesdays and Fridays from Dec. 21, and three flights per week on Wednesdays, Fridays, and Sundays from Jan. 15, 2023.
The direct flights from Shanghai to Budapest were launched in June 2019 and were suspended in February 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The resumed route is the second non-stop passenger route between China and Hungary after Air China resumed its Beijing-Budapest route in July.
Hungary's Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Peter Szijjarto recently confirmed on his Facebook page that a new direct flight between Chongqing and Budapest would be launched on Nov. 18. The route will be operated by Air China, which runs once a week on Fridays.
"Air connectivity is key to strengthening economic ties and both tourists and businessmen prefer cities which they can fly directly to," Szijjarto said, adding that the pandemic had a huge impact on air transportation, and that Hungary would continue to work on rebuilding its connections with China.
In Central Europe, there is a huge competition to attract Chinese tourists, an effort to boost local economic growth, Szijjarto explained.
A passenger plane is seen before leaving for Shanghai at Budapest Ferenc Liszt International Airport in Budapest, Hungary, on Nov. 11, 2022. A passenger plane that took off from Shanghai Pudong International Airport landed at Budapest Ferenc Liszt International Airport here on Friday morning, resuming the direct passenger flights between the two cities operated by China Eastern Airlines. [Photo by Attila Volgyi/Xinhua]
A passenger plane is seen before leaving for Shanghai at Budapest Ferenc Liszt International Airport in Budapest, Hungary, on Nov. 11, 2022. A passenger plane that took off from Shanghai Pudong International Airport landed at Budapest Ferenc Liszt International Airport here on Friday morning, resuming the direct passenger flights between the two cities operated by China Eastern Airlines. [Photo by Attila Volgyi/Xinhua]
