An airplane carrying 208 passengers took off from Xi'an, the capital of northwest China's Shaanxi Province, bound for Milan, Italy, on Thursday afternoon, marking the inauguration of the first regular direct passenger flight between northwest China and the Italian city.

China Eastern Airlines operates the new route with an Airbus A330 aircraft. The route offers three round-trip flights per week, with a flight duration of about 12 hours.

The departure flight takes off from Xi'an at 2:40 p.m. and arrives in Milan at 7:30 p.m. local time, while the return flight takes off from Milan at 9:30 p.m. local time and arrives in Xi'an at 2 p.m. the next day.