The direct flight from Wuhan, capital of central China's Hubei province, to Moscow, capital of Russia, resumed on Tuesday, boosting bilateral exchanges between the two countries.

China Southern Airlines flight CZ8003 departed from Wuhan at around 3:00 p.m. on Tuesday local time with 271 passengers on board. The route is scheduled to operate by Airbus A350-900 aircraft twice weekly on Sundays and Tuesdays from Wuhan to Moscow.

The outbound flight from Wuhan takes off at 3:10 p.m. Beijing time and arrives in Moscow at 7:15 p.m. local time. The return flight departs from Moscow at 9:15 p.m. local time and lands in Wuhan at 10:30 a.m. Beijing time the next day.

The route was first launched in July 2014; however, it was suspended later due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The resumption has been well received, with the pre-sale rate at around 80 percent on the round-trip flights so far this month, according to Wang Gang with the airline's Hubei branch.

The move came after China announced a visa-free policy for Russian ordinary passport holders from Sept. 15 this year to Sept. 14, 2026. Russia has said it will reciprocate the measure.

Chistiakova Liudmila from Russia just concluded a week-long trip to Wuhan. When coming to China, she first flew from Moscow to Guangzhou, then took another flight to Wuhan. She was very happy that she could now fly directly back to Moscow from Wuhan.

China's visa-free policy for Russian citizens makes exchanges between the two countries more convenient, she added.