Air China to launch direct flight from Beijing to Melbourne

Passengers land in Vienna from a new Air China route on May 5, 2014. [Zhang Yuwei / Xinhua]

BEIJING - Air China will launch a direct flight from Beijing to Melbourne on June 1.

Flight number CA166/165 will take off every Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday. Beginning on January 25, 2016, the flight will be daily.

The new service will be operated by Airbus A330-200 aircraft, offering 28 business seats and 199 economy seats.

China is the fastest growing tourism market of Victoria state, where Melbourne is located, with 365,000 Chinese visitors traveling to the state in the 12 months to September 2014.