Direct flight links northern Chinese city, Saipan

SHIJIAZHUANG -- Flights connecting Shijiazhuang, capital city of northern China's Hebei Province, and Saipan, a popular island resort in the western pacific, popular with China's new rich, were launched Monday.

The flight, operated by Dynamic International Airways on a Boeing 767-200 with a capacity of 215 passengers, is scheduled to fly every five days.

The six-hour flight leaves Shijiazhuang at 5:30 p.m. (Beijing time) and arrives in Saipan at 1:30 a.m. (local time). The return flight departs Saipan at 10:50 a.m. (local time).

"Instead of coming to Beijing to fly to Saipan, tourists from northern provinces of Hebei, Shanxi and Inner Mongolia as well as eastern Shandong Province can choose to fly from Shijiazhuang," said a director of the city's airport company.

Dynamic Airways is an American charter airline founded in 2010. It operates many flights on behalf of other operators.