North China's Hebei province opened its first direct flight to Taiwan on Thursday.

The flight, carried by Boeing 737, will fly from Zhengding Airport in Shijiazhuang, capital of the province, to Taoyuan Airport in Taipei every Thursday, with a flight time of about 190 minutes.

Zhang Yanjie, general manager of Hebei Airport Group, said that they will set up a mechanism for communicating with their Taipei counterpart and take measures to improve airport facilities, such as opening a green channel and putting up more guidance marks for passengers.

Hebei became one of the second batch of provinces opened for traveling to Taiwan in 2009, and Shijiazhuang was listed as a new stop in cross-strait Direct Route on May 21 by civil aviation unions from the mainland and Taiwan.

In 2009, about 50,000 Taiwan passengers travelled to Hebei.

By Guo Changdong and Ren Ruqin