First direct flights link Tibet, Inner Mongolia

Passengers at Gonggar Airport in Lhasa, capital of southwest China's Tibet autonomous region on April 9, 2019. The airport is one of the two destinations of the newly launched air route. [Photo by Zhang Rufeng/Xinhua]

North China's Inner Mongolia autonomous region on Monday launched its first direct flight to Tibet Autonomous Region in southwest China.

The first flight on the route took off from Hohhot Baita International Airport at 7:45 a.m. and will have a stop-over in Xi'an, capital of Shaanxi Province, before arriving at Lhasa Gonggar Airport at 2:40 p.m. The return flight will depart from Lhasa at 3:30 p.m. and arrive at Hohhot at 10:15 p.m.

The flights will be operated daily by China Eastern Airlines.

The Baita airport said the new air route would greatly slash travel time between the two autonomous regions, whose flights used to transfer via cities in other provinces.