Russian holidaymakers will be able to take charter flights to the north China tourist resort of Qinhuangdao from June, in the first direct flights to the area from China’s border, tourism chiefs said Monday.

The charter flights, with total capacity of nearly 2,000 passengers, would start from June 18 twice a week for eight weeks, said Zhang Lirong, deputy chief of the Tourism Bureau of Qinhuangdao, Hebei Province.

The service would be operated by Grand China Air, a subsidiary of China’s Hainan Airlines.

The flights would fly into Shanhaiguan Airport from Manzhouli City, China’s largest land port in Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, bordering Russia, where more than one million Russians enter China every year, Zhang said.

They would be the first charter flights from Manzhouli to Qinhuangdao, which is famous for its beach resort of Beidaihe, Zhang said.

The charter flight contract was signed between Qinhuangdao International Travel Agency and Manzhouli China International Travel Service in late March, Zhang said. Continue Reading