Juneyao Airlines, a private Chinese air carrier, has been approved by the country's civil aviation regulator to operate a regular Shanghai-Sapporo-Shanghai route, the National Business Daily reported Tuesday.

Until now, only China Eastern Airlines had been approved to fly from Shanghai to Japan's Sapporo. Spring Airlines, another private airline company in China, has been cleared for operation of Shanghai-Ibaraki and Shanghai-Hong Kong flights.

According to a statement by the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC), Juneyao Airlines is expected to officially launch the Shanghai-Sapporo-Shanghai flight in January 2011 with one flight a day using A319/320 aircrafts.

Because of the tourism boom brought by the Shanghai Expo, Juneyao Airlines has forecast its profit for this year will exceed 400 million yuan. Last year's profit was just 108 million yuan.

China's business press carried the story above on Tuesday. China.org.cn has not checked the stories and does not vouch for their accuracy.